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The onslaught of video game industry layoffs continue. This week, some Respawn Entertainment employees working on the hit first-person battle royale shooter Apex Legends were reportedly laid off, according to multiple reports from employees at the EA-owned studio.
"The Apex team was hit with layoffs today. It sucks seeing some of the people I've worked with for almost 3 years now get let go," Apex Legends Level Designer Aaron Stump wrote on X.
"Tired of these fucking layoffs man," wrote Conor Ford, security analyst on Apex Legends. "Losing friends at work is so fucked up."
Respawn Build Engineer Tyler Owens adds that he's "completely gutted" by the layoffs. Based on their LinkedIn profiles and Twitter bios, it does not appear that Stump, Ford, and Owens were laid off themselves. In another post last night, Owens wrote: "I don’t know how people dictating these actions sleep at night after casually shattering X number of human lives."
It's currently unclear what types of roles and departments were most affected, though Apex's social media lead has since shared she was laid off. A source familiar with the layoffs told PCMag that Apex staff have not been told how many employees from their game have been laid off in total, but said that the layoffs are impacting "underperformers."
Respawn's Apex layoffs come two weeks after EA confirmed it was laying off 5% of staff and cancelling Respawn's Star Wars game. Apex's layoffs this week appear to include some of this previously announced 5% number and then some, the person familiar with the layoffs said. EA, however, told PCMag via email that Wednesday's layoffs were a part of its earlier 5% announcement. IGN later reported that 23 employees were impacted. EA also laid off 200 Apex Legends quality assurance testers last year.
These layoffs don't mean Apex as a game is necessarily in a bad spot, though. Apex Legends has grown since it first launched in 2019 for Windows PC and console users. EA's May 2023 earnings report states that Apex specifically saw weekly active user numbers up 20% from its prior season, and the game saw an increase in overall financial bookings.
Apex Legends Mobile, released in 2022, was shut down in May 2023, however.
Electronic Arts as a whole made $7.4 billion in net revenue in its last fiscal year, according to the company, and its CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly received a pay package worth $20.7 million last year.
Last week, Wilson also touted the potential benefits of generative AI, proclaiming it's something the publisher is "embracing deeply." Wilson also estimated that generative AI could make EA 30% more efficient and be applied to about 60% of the company's development processes.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include additional information on the layoffs and comment from EA.