EA lays off 5% of its developers as it moves away from licensed games

digitaltrends.com:

EA announced that it will lay off 5% of its workforce by the end of March as part of an initiative that will also see it move away from making a lot of externally licensed games in the future.

“We are also sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry. This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow,” CEO Andrew Wilson explained in a post on EA’s website.

In terms of licensed games, EA studios are running a Lord of the Rings mobile game and developing titles based on Black Panther, Iron Man, and Star Wars. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, EA says the Marvel games are not impacted by this change. That said, it certainly makes it seem a lot less likely that any more projects like these will emerge at EA in the future.

Wilson’s comments imply that this change in licensed strategy won’t impact its sports game output, though. Essentially, EA wants to double down on bigger games with greater potential based on IP it has full control over. “Fans are increasingly engaging with the largest IP, and looking to us for broader experiences where they can play, watch, create content, and forge deeper connections,” Wilson claims in his post.

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GamesIndustry.biz estimates that 5% of EA’s workforce is about 670 game developers and that this restructuring plan will cost the video game publisher between $125 and $165 million. Just two months in, 2024 has been full of video game industry layoffs. Just this week, Sony announced plans to lay off over 900 employees, Saltsea Chronicles developer Gute Die