Apex Legends developer Respawn is the latest studio to be affected by EA layoffs.
Word began circulating that Respawn employees – particularly those on its Apex Legends team – had lost their jobs earlier today on social, as colleagues and those directly impacted began sharing the news.
“The Apex team was hit with layoffs today,” Apex Legends level designer Aaron Stump posted. “It sucks seeing some of the people I’ve worked with for almost three years now get let go.”
“Rough day at EA. Rough day at Respawn,” senior writer Peter Stewart wrote on social media. “Although I’m thankful to be safe, my thoughts are with everyone affected by the ongoing layoffs, and if there’s any way I can help or signal boost, I will do. It’s really hard to find the energy and joy to make games in this environment.”
Apex Legends global social media lead Alex Ackerman confirmed she’d been affected by the job cuts, writing, “After 20 Seasons of Apex and 5 years at Respawn nearly to the day, my job has been made redundant and I have been laid off. Working on this game and supporting this community has truly been the honour of my career and a highlight of my life.”
Respawn and EA have yet to publicly address reports of layoffs at the studio (Eurogamer has reached out for comment), and it’s currently unclear how many team members have been affected. It’s likely, however, these are part of the 670 job cuts EA announced in February, when CEO Andrew Wilson said the layoff process was expected to continue until “early next quarter”.
As part of EA latest round of layoffs – the second in the space of year – the publisher said it would be moving away from “future licensed IP” toward its “owned IP, sports, and massive online communities”. As a result, a Star Wars FPS in development at Respawn (reportedly a Mandalorian game) was cancelled, but there was no word on other projects being impacted at the studio.
Today’s layoffs are only the latest in what’s proving to be a devastating 2024 for games industry employees. In a little under two months, over 7,500 workers have lost their jobs, compared to the already more than 9000 layoffs seen across the entirety of 2023.
