Electronic Arts lays off 6% of its workforce

American video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) announced that it will lay off 6% of its workforce as part of its restructuring plan.

In a blog post, CEO Andrew Wilson said that EA’s popular titles FIFA 23, Apex Legends, and The Sims are showing strong performance in spite of the global economic slowdown. However, the company will no longer focus on projects that don’t make the same contribution to its business.

‘’As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,’’ Wilson said. ‘’These decisions are expected to impact approximately six percent of our company’s workforce. This is the most difficult part, and we are working through the process with the utmost care and respect.’’

He added that they will transfer employees working on soon-to-be shut down projects to the other teams within the company. Where it’s not possible, EA will offer severance pay, health care and career transition services to those that will be laid off.

‘’Communicating these decisions began earlier this quarter and we expect them to continue through early next fiscal year.’’

According to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. (via Reuters), U.S. tech companies laid off 63000 employees within the first three months of 2023.

The companies that cut staff or announced plans to do so during the first quarter of the year include Google’s parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Spotify.