Tough Times
2024's games industry lay-offs: The stories so far - all in one place
The second half of the year is still providing tough times. Here are all the companies that have resized, restructured and shed staff so far this year
Company Profile
Electronic Arts
Website
www.ea.com
About
Electronic Arts (EA) is the world's leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for advanced entertainment systems.
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CEO
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Accolades
Articles featuring Electronic Arts
Hot Five
Hot Five: Squad Busters breaks $50 million, EA’s mobile blueprint, and Finland’s "survive to 2025" mantra
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Ea Q1 Financials
Electronic Arts: "FC Mobile is the blueprint for our mobile strategy"
Their profits may be down 30% but EA Sports FC Mobile made record net bookings while FC Mobile Madden NFL 24 earned double digit growth
Hot Five
Hot Five: Japan’s newest stars, Nordic numbers, and Tripledot Studios’ acquisition
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Almighty Earnings
EA's CEO Andrew Wilson earns $25 million despite company layoffs
Wilson's compenstation was revealed in a financial report and comes not long after the publisher laid off 5% of its global workforce, closed studios and cancelled projects
Sporting Score
Q4 FY24 was EA’s strongest for mobile, but it still only earned them $307 million
EA released 11 titles and over 600 content updates in its 2024 fiscal year but their big bucks are being made outside of mobile
Ip Intentions
EA's new mobile strategy focuses around "significant library of owned IP"
Mobile continues to be the largest gaming platform and EA sees strong growth opportunities in the segment
Hot Five
Hot Five: EA layoffs, Unity shares falls amid restructure, and Rollic picks up Barbie licence
Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
Job Losses
EA lays off 5% of staff as it cuts licensing deals and closes offices
Restructuring plan will cost publisher up to $165 million
Jobs Cuts
EA lays off staff after sunsetting MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing
“Unfortunately, the game was unable to meet our performance expectations".
Head Hiring
Former EA exec and mobile app recruitment specialist Jeff Chaiken joins Skybound Entertainment
Jeff Chaiken joins Skybound as senior vice president and head of corporate development and strategy
Back From The Dead
Plants vs Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia soft launches in the UK and other select regions
The hugely popular action puzzle game is back. It's time to enjoy classic Plants vs Zombies gameplay with another new twist
The Only Way Is Up
Investment in and around the games industry dropped by 79% in 2023
While in America it dropped 86%… But with profits and share prices on the increase, is the scene now set for a bounceback?
Best Of 2023
Daniel Griffiths' top stories of 2023: AI, Unity's runtime fee farrago, and crunch time for ByteDance
From A.I. to Zelnick… PocketGamer.biz editor Daniel Griffiths picks his favourite stories from throughout 2023
Dishing The Dirt
Codemasters suffer job losses in ongoing Electronic Arts takeover aftermath
After the acquisition of rivals, restructuring of teams and lacklustre sales, owners EA have stepped in to "align teams and resources to meet evolving business needs"
A Winning Team
Korea shoots and scores with huge surge in soccer-themed mobile game sales
Despite the FIFA rebranding, EA FC Mobile continues to dominate the soccer-themed mobile games market
New Announcements
EA announces turn-based football game for mobile, EA Sports FC Tactical
Not an extension or update to EA Sports FC but a whole new strategy football game exclusively on mobile
Disney Acquisition
Disney CEO Bob Iger is considering the acquisition of a major publisher
Disney is one of the world’s best known entertainment brands, may be on the brink of a major gaming acquisition
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news including the insignificance of mobile when AR meets AI and… pure… unadulterated… horror!
Ea Games
EA downplays the importance of mobile
CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about the company’s future at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference
Coming To Conquer
Command & Conquer's latest Legions blasts onto mobile
Command & Conquer: Legions is due to launch this year after a closed beta coming soon
Best Of 2023
The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2023
The movers and the shakers of the last 12 months
Job News
WAGMI appoints EA veterans to leadership roles
Esteban Gil and Brent Pease will assist the company in its web3 goals
Financials
EA delivers a record $1.9 billion in net revenue in the first quarter of 2023
Mobile accounted for only a small percentage of the 9% YOY increase, despite FIFA Mobile success
Jobs News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Samantha Ryan leaves EA plus hires for Supercell, Zynga and more
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's the highlights from the last week
Job News
July's Mobile Movers and Shakers: Gameloft appoints a new lead game designer while MYSTiC gets a new CMO
July has seen some significant moves by some of the industry's biggest company's - here's just a few
Stocks
EA and other video game stocks see big boost as M&A fever creeps in
Shares are trading ‘in sympathy’ with Microsoft and ABK as the AquiBlizz saga looks set to close
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news including EA's big break up, new looks, new opportunities and new challenges…
Ea Reorganisation
EA Games breaks into two companies: EA Entertainment to look after mobile games
Mobile remains under Jeff Karp as part of the newly formed EA Entertainment as FIFA Mobile hits $1 billion in revenue, EA Sports becomes an entity in itself
Milestones
FIFA Mobile passes $1bn revenue threshold
The game was first released in 2016 and is based on the highly successful console franchise
Layoffs
EA mobile developer Firemonkeys Studio hit with mass layoffs
The studio worked on Real Racing 3 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Roundup
Revenue Report: Games financials roundup: May 2023
Who's up? Who's down? Here's the latest quarterly financial results from around the world of mobile games, all in one place
Week That Was
Week in Views - What caught our eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news and discuss unexpected returns, making millions and losing them too…
Acquiblizz
Electronic Arts boss Andrew Wilson claims Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal is immaterial to them
EA remains Microsoft's "biggest partner and number one publisher on their platform"
New Investment
Saudi Arabia boosts stake in Electronic Arts by 55%
The country has been investing in game makers as part of its long-term economic strategy
Financials
EA takes its eye off the ball as mobile growth slows to 1% in Q4 report
Mobile growth year on year drops from 48% to just 1%, but other sectors turn a familiar tidy profit
Sunsetting
Apex Legends Mobile shuts down
The sunsetting was announced in February
Lord Of The App Store
Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth set for May 10 release
The game will launch in iOS and Android
Ea Layoffs
Electronic Arts is cutting 6% of its workforce
The gaming giant is the latest company to announce large-scale layoffs
Aaa Vs. Mobile
Why are AAA publishers still struggling to make it on mobile?
Mobile gaming dominates the games space, but AAA game makers are failing to effectively enter the market
Views Week
Week in Views - What caught our editorial eyes in the last seven days
The Pocketgamer.biz team take their pick of this weeks big news and discuss artificial intelligence, gambling and… fishing?
Loot Box Lawsuit
Loot boxes: not gambling, says Canadian judge
But by allowing the rest of the class action suit to continue, Electronic Arts aren’t out of the woods yet
Analytics
Apex Legends Mobile was trailing heavily behind CoD Mobile prior to its axe
New data indicates that EA’s culling of Apex Legends Mobile may be more warranted than was previously assumed
Loot Boxes
Austrian Court classifies loot boxes as gambling
The country’s court has issued a fine against Sony in a provisional ruling
Live And Kicking
Is it game over for Live Ops games?
We've seen some huge live games get the plug pulled, but are reports of their demise exaggerated? And what makes a LiveOps game fail? Oscar Clark of Fundamentally Games explains
Ea Layoffs
Electronic Arts lays off around 300 QA workers
The team in Baton Rouge were all contractors working on Apex Legends
New Hires
International Game Developers Association Foundation board appoints three new directors
Lisy Kane, James Lewis, and Sarah Spiers bring decades of experience to their roles
Interview
"Web3 is a solution in search of a problem." FunCraft’s CEO steps back from blockchain
After considering web3 and blockchain, FunCraft's Michael Martinez decided that the future lies elsewhere
Trends 2023
Mobile games industry trends for 2023: Publishing predictions: Part one
MobileGroove's Peggy Anne Salz looks at AAA growth, multiplatform releases and a shift away from hypercasual
Job News
AdInMo appoints Scopely and Animoca Brands veterans
Multiple new hires bring experience from Google, EA, and Paramount Pictures