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CEO Andrew Wilson told employees this ‘streamlining’ of operations will allow the company to focus on its most valuable opportunities.
Video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) has become the latest company to announce layoffs with job cuts affecting 5pc of its global workforce.
In an announcement shared with EA employees yesterday (28 February), CEO Andrew Wilson said that the layoffs are part of a refocus to “double down” on some of the company’s “biggest opportunities” such as owned IP, sports and massive online communities.
“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. Given how and where we are working, we are continuing to optimise our global real estate footprint to best support our business,” he said.
“We are also sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.”
Wilson said that this “streamlining” of operations will help bring “deeper, more connected” experiences for EA fans around the world.
With around 13,400 employees globally, the latest layoffs are expected to affect around 670 jobs at the company headquartered in Redwood City, California.
EA shared plans to cut 6pc of its global workforce – roughly 800 jobs – and reduce its office spaces less than a year ago. Wilson said at the time that the company was “moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint and restructuring some of our teams”.
The company employs hundreds of staff in Galway, where it established its European customer service and operations centre. The site houses various teams for EA’s customer support and data centre services. It is not clear how many Irish jobs will be cut in the latest layoffs.
“I understand this will create uncertainty and be challenging for many who have worked with such dedication and passion and have made important contributions to our company,” Wilson said of the latest layoffs.
“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. Our primary goal is to provide team members with opportunities to find new roles and paths to transition onto other projects.”
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