EA will lay off the majority of staff at its mobile game studio Firemonkeys, a new report has revealed.
Up to two thirds of the company’s workforce is expected to be let go, Kotaku Australia says.
EA top brass reportedly flew to Firemonkeys’ Melbourne office to deliver the news last week. The studio had been working on multiple EA mobile game projects, including Real Racing 3, Need for Speed: No Limits and The Sims FreePlay.
FireMonkeys will remain open, though as a “monotitle” studio dedicated solely to The Sims FreePlay.
Development work on Real Racing 3 and Need for Speed: No Limits will now be relocated to EA’s studio in Hyderabad, India.
This isn’t the first setback for Firemonkeys. Real Racing 4 was previously in development at the studio but was cancelled back in 2019, with up to 50 jobs also lost.
Development work on The Sims Mobile was also moved from Firemonkeys to India in 2021.
The most recent cuts to Firemonkeys come after EA boss Andrew Wilson recently warned that the company was “restructuring” its business this year, with around 775 job losses expected globally.
“As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,” Wilson told workers at the company. “These decisions are expected to impact approximately six percent of our company’s workforce.”
