Around 100 employees laid off at Apex Legends and Star Wars studio
Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Apex Legends and the Star Wars Jedi series, faces layoffs and the cancellation of two early-stage projects.
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Today, Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment announced the cancellation of two unknown projects and an undisclosed number of layoffs. Respawn Entertainment is best known for several successful franchises including the battle royale Apex Legends, the Star Wars Jedi series, and the Titanfall series. This follows last month’s news that another unannounced game being worked on by Respawn was cancelled, but at the time, it didn’t seem like cause for alarm. Studios often have ideas for games that never see the light of day, but pair that with layoffs and it starts to become more worrisome.
Respawn faces layoffs and two in-progress game cancellations
Respawn shared the news via a post on social media. According to the post, “…we’ve made the decision to step away from two early-stage incubation projects and make some targeted team adjustments across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi.” This news comes as Apex Legends continues to top Steam charts, with it currently sitting at the number five most played game on Steam at the time of writing. Respawn has also been working on the third game in the Star Wars Jedi series, following the success of Jedi: Survivor in 2023. Notably, the statement also mentions that Respawn will be “offering meaningful support to those impacted, including exploring new opportunities within EA.” So, it appears that at least not all employees effected by this will completely leave the company.
At the time of writing, Jason Schreier, a reporter for Bloomberg, broke the news that “around 100” positions have been eliminated at Respawn, along with another few hundred at EA in general. According to Schreier, one of the canceled games was code-named R7, and was an extraction shooter set in the Titanfall universe, which is the same universe as Apex Legends. At this time, there is no confirmation about the other early-stage game that was canceled.
Since launching in 2019, Apex Legends has been one of the few success stories in live service games. In more recent years, new titles have had a much harder time trying to find a foothold. Huge companies like Warner Bros., Ubisoft, and Sony have struggled to even keep a game from shutting down, like MultiVersus from WB, XDefiant from Ubisoft, and Concord from Sony. Despite its success, EA and Respawn have continued to try to find ways to extract more revenue from players, which has resulted in backlash and back pedaling.
Respawn had found success for years, but at least on some level this proves that there is some pressure on the studio to bring in more revenue. Apex Legends is still going strong, though maybe not growing in the way that Respawn and EA hope for. The next Star Wars Jedi is still happening, and that next game will likely be a huge success, but of course that is likely a year or two away at this point at least.
Compared to many studios these days, especially those chasing the live service trends, Respawn is in a good position. Aside from the upcoming Star Wars Jedi game, Respawn is also involved in the recently announced Star Wars: Zero Company, an XCOM style tactical game. We will have to keep an eye on the studio over the next year to see how they adapt. Will Apex Legends have a major update to draw in more players? Will the next Star Wars Jedi game be a hit? Will there eventually be a Titanfall 3 or a new game make it through Respawn’s incubation period? We will have to wait and see.
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