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Electronic Arts will lay off more than 700 employees \u2014 6% of the video game publisher\u2019s worldwide workforce of roughly 12,900 \u2014 CEO Andrew Wilson said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

The mass dismissals come despite a $1.3 billion gross profit that EA reported for its latest fiscal quarter, according to financial statements given to investors in January. Still, the company at the time also lowered its full year profit expectations, despite revenue and profit increases over the same quarterly period from 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven amidst macro uncertainty, EA is operating from a position of strength,\u201d Wilson said in announcing the layoffs. He said EA is \u201cgaining momentum,\u201d but still announced the layoffs a few paragraphs later.<\/p>\n

Wilson did not specify which segments of the company would be impacted by the layoffs; he said only that EA will pull away from projects that don\u2019t align with its strategy: \u201cbuilding games and experiences that entertain massive online communities; creating blockbuster interactive storytelling; and amplifying the power of community in and around our games with social and creator tools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wilson specifically called out The Sims 4, EA Sports FIFA 23,<\/em> and Apex Legends<\/em> for their success. It\u2019s likely the company will focus on support for Madden 23, Battlefield 2042<\/em>, and beyond, as well as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor<\/em> once that launches at the end of April. EA developer Maxis is also working on The Sims 5<\/em>, surely a key project in EA\u2019s portfolio. <\/p>\n

Electronic Arts has already said that Battlefield 1943<\/em>, Battlefield: Bad Company<\/em>, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2<\/em> will be removed from online stores in April, but these catalog reductions don\u2019t seem to be related to the layoffs.<\/p>\n

Wilson said some workers may be reassigned to other projects; those who aren\u2019t will get severance pay and \u201cadditional benefits.\u201d The company began announcing personnel changes \u201cearlier this quarter,\u201d which are expected to continue into \u201cearly next fiscal year,\u201d which starts in October. EA laid off 200 Apex Legends<\/em> QA testers in February, according to Kotaku.<\/p>\n

EA\u2019s significant layoffs follow a number of others by its industry peers: 400 Twitch employees were let go among Amazon\u2019s recent termination of 9,000 employees. Microsoft laid off 10,000 workers earlier in the year, reportedly impacting studios like Starfield<\/em> developer Bethesda Softworks and Halo Infinite<\/em> developer 343 Industries. Elsewhere, Take-Two<\/a>, Unity, and several others have followed suit with layoffs, most citing macro-economic uncertainty. <\/p>\n

Big companies typically blame these sorts of layoffs on slowing growth. (EA also stated it was \u201creviewing\u201d its real estate investments.) Such layoffs may not actually cut costs, some experts say \u2014 and the dismissals may simply be companies \u201ccopying\u201d their peers, according to The Verge. EA said it expects the layoffs to cost around $170 to $200 million, it wrote in a financial document published today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n