In a year loaded with layoffs in the game development world, EA continues the trend when the company announced on March 26th that 350 people were being let go.
CEO Andrew Wilson posted a brief statement on the EA website that the layoffs were “important steps as a company to address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead.”
With an employee count of around 9,000 people, these layoffs amount to 4% of the company’s workforce. EA is looking to make some major changes in their marketing and publishing, as well as their approach to the overseas markets.
EA has become a source of mishaps and memes; it was voted the “The Worst Company in America” by The Consumerist in 2013 and 2014, and received major backlash for its handling of micro-transactions with the release of Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Things seem to be on the up-and-up with the release of Apex Legends, but it will take more than the publishing of a free-to-play battle royale to redeem the negative stigmas surrounding EA, and these layoffs will certainly not help their case.