Apex Legends developer Respawn has had its Star Wars first-person shooter cancelled, as publisher EA makes huge job cuts across its studios.
If anything, 2024 is beginning to look like an even more depressing year for the videogame industry, as the number of job losses continues.
Electronic Arts is the latest company to announce major cuts, with the publishing giant stating that it’s to cut some 670 roles – equating to roughly five percent of its staff.
Numerous studios and projects have been affected by these cuts. Among them is Respawn Entertainment, which was working on a first-person shooter set in the Star Wars universe. According to VGC, that project has been cancelled – it’s not clear whether this was the Mandalorian title rumoured a matter of weeks ago, or something separate.
Given just how well-received Respawn’s other games have been though – not least the Star Wars Jedi titles – the cancellation is particularly surprising.
Of the move, EA Entertainment boss Laura Miele said, “As we’ve looked at Respawn’s portfolio over the last few months, what’s clear is the games our players are most excited about are Jedi and Respawn’s rich library of owned brands. Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS Action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games.”
In less business-y terms, it sounds as though EA has commanded Remedy to concentrate on making a third Star Wars Jedi game instead.
Another studio EA affected by the cuts is Ridgeline Games, which has been closed down entirely. Founded in 2021, the studio was set up to make a story-based game in the Battlefield series.
In a rambling letter to employees, CEO Andrew Wilson wrote that EA is “sunsetting games and moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry.”
The company will instead focus on “our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities.”
Wilson did add, however, that EA is “entertaining, inspiring and connecting more people with more content and deeper experiences than ever before,” which will no doubt be of comfort to the staggering number of people losing their jobs.
