Electronic Arts Lays Off Hundreds, Cancels 'Titanfall' Game

Electronic Arts is laying off hundreds of workers and canceling a Titanfall game that was in development at its Respawn Entertainment subsidiary. From a report: Between 300 and 400 positions were eliminated, including around 100 at Respawn, according to a person familiar with the cuts. The company had about 13,700 employees at the end of March 2024.

"As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we've made select changes within our organization that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth," Justin Higgs, a spokesman for the Redwood City, California-based company, said in a statement.

The canceled project, code-named R7, was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe, according to people familiar with its development. It was not close to being released.

Everyone knows a recession is coming

[rsilvergun]

And it's one that we don't need to have we're just going to make it happen ourselves because of what we did last November.

So they're all getting ready for stock BuyBacks and that means Mass layoffs. By the end of the year I suspect half of the people reading this won't have a job.

Re:

[vyvepe]

By the end of the year I suspect half of the people reading this won't have a job.

50% unemployment is highly unlikely.
The unemployment rate maxed at 25% during the great depression in 1933.

Re:Everyone knows a recession is coming

[MachineShedFred]

50% across the entire population, all sectors, all industries? You're probably right.

50% of the tech-heavy audience that remains on this site? That's more possible.

I think you're going to see a ton of us replaced w

[rsilvergun]

I don't think it matters if it works or not. Like I told the other guy if it doesn't work anyone who is left will just be forced to pick up the slack and work harder doing double work for the same pay. Like having a co-worker it doesn't do their job only it's an AI

I think it's going to hit white collar workers

[rsilvergun]

Harder than most and we're mostly white collar workers. You're going to see a huge acceleration into automation. A lot of it just won't work but during all the chaos of the recession nobody's going to care. You going to see or shoot them all and let God sort them out mentality.

You will get replaced with an AI and if that AI doesn't work then anyone who manages to keep their job will just be forced to work 70 hours a week to make up for the broken ai. Like having a coworker who refuses to do his job.

Re:

[rickb928]

I'm in the other half-ish. I'm frakking retired. Done listening to my teammates groan about The Man, done listening to their wailing about layoffs, done listening to them explain to me how dam important they are, they are a people person, dammit! Done listening to Bob (either one) asking me what I actually do.

Ami complaining about 2024? '23? '08? 1999? '90? 1984? 1960? As if change is change.

Re:

[DrMrLordX]

The tech sector and gaming industry have been getting beaten up since last year.

Again?

[TWX]

How many times are they going to cancel this game and fire everyone? This is at least the second time this week [slashdot.org]!

Re:Again?

[MachineShedFred]

They wanted to make sure everyone knew that this game was gone, so they fired everyone twice. That's how serious they are about cancelling it!

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

They wanted to make sure everyone knew that this game was gone, so they fired everyone twice. That's how serious they are about cancelling it!

Sounds like DOGE must have gotten involved, then.

Re:

[supremebob]

I don't think that the game is really dead until Slashdot reports it a third time. THEN you know it's serious.

Opportunity strikes!

[Baron_Yam]

Thanks to this repost, I can post my comment from the other discussion with some needed edits:

I purchased and played Titanfall 2. Gorgeous game.

But as seems to be the standard these days, the devs were more interested in making a movie than a game. The rails weren't quite as bad as the ones in the BioShock series, but they're pretty obvious.

I am playing Titanfall 2 again now, but the rails mean it's not something I do very often. There's no variety, no surprises.
If they're not making another, I'll

Re:

[T-RayTombstone]

I get you, although I still had a great time with the game. I also thought the online component was great.

Extraction shooter

[DrMrLordX]

Apparently the canceled Titanfall project was an extraction shooter rather than a proper Titanfall 3. Judging by how badly Marathon did/is doing, EA probably figured that strapping an older IP to a modern concept that is oversaturated on the market is a bad idea.