“Morale Has Been Terrible” – EA Workers Criticise Publisher’s Cost-Cutting After Latest Layoffs
After EA cut around 400 jobs, including announcing BioWare’s closure, current and former employees described poor morale and a growing divide between staff and executives. Their anonymous accounts portray a workplace where cost-cutting, management’s push to use generative AI and a focus on live-service projects have left workers feeling unsupported.
Staff said teams were expected to maintain workloads with fewer people, while AI tools were made difficult to avoid. They also described layoffs as secretive: colleagues were not told who had been dismissed, and some workers received termination news in Zoom meetings with other participants hidden. The cuts followed EA’s acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which reportedly left the publisher with about $18 billion in debt; EA says it will prioritise sports games, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi and Battlefield.
In short
- EA’s latest cuts eliminated around 400 jobs.
- Workers reported poor morale and pressure to use AI.
- EA plans to prioritise sports, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi and Battlefield.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Workers may reasonably argue that repeated layoffs, heavier workloads and opaque dismissal processes undermine trust, morale and the ability to make good games. They may also see pressure to adopt generative AI and prioritise live-service projects as decisions imposed without enough regard for staff expertise or the quality and variety of EA’s output.
The case against
EA’s leadership may argue that restructuring is necessary to manage costs and debt while concentrating investment on franchises with stronger commercial prospects. From that perspective, adopting AI tools and focusing on established or live-service titles could help teams work more efficiently and sustain the business, even when difficult staffing decisions are unavoidable.
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