EA has cut staff across the Battlefield Studios group, impacting teams at DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive, according to IGN’s report. The company did not disclose how many people were laid off or which roles were affected.
The company has stated that the decision is a restructuring move intended to better align the Battlefield franchise around player priorities.
The move strangely happened after a very strong launch of Battlefield 6, the latest entry in the long-running first-person shooter series, having sold more than seven million copies within the first few days after the launch. Apparently, even the strongest launch in the series’ history wasn’t enough to keep all the development teams intact.
EA’s Battlefield team is currently organized under the “Battlefield Studios” banner, a collaboration model that spreads work across multiple internal teams rather than relying on a single lead studio. The four studios affected by the layoffs are the core of that structure, and they were all involved in Battlefield 6’s development and ongoing updates.
The layoffs were followed by vague statements about the franchise remaining a top priority, the player feedback and satisfaction being paramount, and this being an internal restructurization move to better serve these core tenets.
The community hasn’t been silent on the matter, and the response has been overwhelmingly negative. Many gamers question EA’s direction if even the record-breaking launch is not enough to secure the employees’ positions. The others lambast the current state of the industry, where you get laid off regardless of the quality and the results of the project you delivered.
Even more questions are directed to EA’s leadership, and the fact that the company is in the middle of a $55 billion buyout by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Right now, it’s unclear how this move will affect Battlefield 6’s future and the entire series moving forward. EA hasn’t made any non-PR statements on the matter, and there are no expectations that the company will make any further clarifications.
