Games company Electronic Arts (EA) has announced it is cutting 5% of its global workforce, as well as cancelling a planned first-person shooter Star Wars game.
EA said that the decision to cut numbers and produce fewer games was to focus on providing more connected experiences for gamers.
This announcement comes just a few months after EA announced it was cutting jobs at Codemasters, the UK developer it owns, best known for the F1 and WRC series of games.
The BBC reported that in a letter to staff, EA’s chief Andrew Wilson said the redundancy round will be completed by the summer, as well as explaining the rationale for focusing on fewer new titles.
“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,” he wrote.
“This greater focus allows us to drive creativity, accelerate innovation, and double down on our biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities — to deliver the entertainment players want today and tomorrow.”
The Star Wars game was being developed by another of EA’s subsidiaries, Respawn Entertainment, which had previously made Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The decision to end the project was down to players favouring other games in the Respawn canon, according to the BBC’s reporting of an email from EA entertainment head Laura Miele.
This is yet more bad news for the games development industry. Earlier this week, PlayStation announced plans to cut 900 jobs and close its London studio. In January, Microsoft said it plans to make 1,900 employees redundant from its gaming division.
Analysts believe this round of redundancies isn’t indicative of a sector in trouble – the games industry is expected to grow by more than $70 billion in the next six years – but a developing maturity and focus on efficiency and profitability.
