Hot on the heels of the recent layoffs over at PlayStation, it was confirmed a day after Sony’s layoffs that EA would be cutting 5% of their workforce, or around 670 employees. Among that workforce is Respawn Entertainment, the developers behind Titanfall and most notably Apex Legends.
Reports of layoffs began to circulate on social media today, with the Apex Legends social team among those affected. One of the employees was Alex Ackerman, the global social media lead for Apex. Ackerman goes on Twitter to say “After 20 Seasons of Apex and 5 years at Respawn nearly to the day, my job has been made redundant and I have been laid off.” She’s been a pillar in the Apex community, present since the game launched in 2019. According to former Apex communications head Ryan Rigney, Ackerman was in charge of transforming Apex Legends’ social accounts into some of the fastest-growing in gaming. It doesn’t matter your accolades, if your higher ups want you gone then you are disposable regardless of your abilities.
It was also announced that EA canceled a previously announced Star Wars first person shooter that was centered around a Mandalorian. The team who worked on this game will be reallocated to other projects such as Iron Man, Black Panther, and Jedi, whose third installment has been confirmed by EA. The company claims to remain committed to its long-standing partnership with Disney/Marvel as EA shifts to a primary focus on owned IPs. Apex Legends will still continue forward with development as well, as it is such a heavy hitter for the company, which makes the layoffs that much more of a shock.
With more bad news to arrive throughout the year as this monsoon of layoffs continues, we can only hope that those affected can find work elsewhere and quickly.