Photo credit: venturebeat.com
Respawn, the studio responsible for popular titles such as Apex Legends and the Star Wars Jedi series, has announced that it will be laying off an undisclosed number of employees and canceling two early-stage projects to concentrate on its main franchises. The studio shared a statement via social media confirming these “targeted team adjustments” and the decision to halt the mentioned projects, reaffirming its commitment to creating “player-first experiences.”
The company stated, “As we sharpen our focus for the future, we’ve made the decision to step away from two early-stage incubation projects and make some target team adjustments across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi. These decisions aren’t easy, and we are deeply grateful to every teammate affected — their creativity and contributions have helped build Respawn into what it is today.” Additionally, it mentioned that laid-off employees could seek “new opportunities within EA.”
Details about the canceled incubation projects were not disclosed by the studio. However, IGN reported that one of the canceled projects was a multiplayer first-person shooter, whose cancellation was initially mentioned back in March. Some individuals involved in these projects have reportedly been reassigned to EA Motive’s upcoming Iron Man game.
This isn’t the first instance of layoffs at Respawn, nor is it unique to Electronic Arts overall. In fact, the publisher laid off 670 employees last year and canceled another Star Wars FPS that was in development, which appears to be distinct from the projects currently affected. EA has also conducted two rounds of layoffs in 2023, impacting 6% of its workforce in March and resulting in the dismissal of 50 employees at BioWare in August.
Source
venturebeat.com