Electronic Arts is laying off roughly 670 staffers, equivalent to 5% of its workforce, CEO Andrew Wilson wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday.
“As a company full of creators and storytellers, we believe in the value of teams innovating together and continue to learn and adopt new ways of collaborating to grow and serve our global communities,” Wilson wrote. “Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimize our global real estate footprint to best support our business.”
Wilson added that the company would also be “sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.”
“Lastly, we are streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture and grow fandom,” the executive continued.
“While not every team will be impacted, this is the hardest part of these changes, and we have deeply considered every option to try and limit impacts to our teams,” Wilson said.
As part of the cuts, EA has also canceled an upcoming “Star Wars” first-person shooter game, according to president of EA entertainment and technology Laura Miele.
“Respawn’s unique ability to connect with players and create exceptional game experiences is unrivaled in entertainment,” Miele said in a statement regarding the company’s “Star Wars” studio.
“Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games,” Miele said.
The layoff announcement came during a wave of video game developers shedding staff in recent months, as many organizations look to slim down their company headcount.
On Tuesday, Sony implemented layoffs of around 900 employees in the company’s PlayStation division. And in January, Microsoft laid off 1,900 roles across its game unit, months after acquiring Activision Blizzard.
