Electronic Arts (EA) made an unexpected move for many Apex Legends testers in the company’s Baton Rouge Louisiana office. Three anonymous sources familiar with the situation told Kotaku that over 200 testers were suddenly laid off over an unexpected mandatory Zoom call Tuesday morning. According to Kotaku, the entire tester team was effectively disbanded and not only was this a shock to the testers but also to their full-time supervisors, who were allegedly not told in advance. Additionally, it alleged that the newly laid-off testers will receive 60 days’ severance. However, it’s alleged that that doesn’t cover the majority of the tester’s contracts.
Following a request for comment by Kotaku, EA eventually responded.
“Testing games is an integral part of delivering the best experiences for our players,” said EA. “As part of our ongoing global strategy, we are expanding the distribution of our Apex Legends testing team and ending testing execution that’s been concentrated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, impacting services provided by our third-party provider. Our global team, inclusive of remote playtesters across the U.S., enables us to increase the hours per week we’re able to test and optimize the game and reflects a commitment to understand and better serve our growing community around the world.”
Previously, February 2023 saw EA closing and canceling Apex Legends Mobile, an unannounced Titanfall game, and Battlefield Mobile respectively. The studio working on Battlefield Mobile, Industrial Toys, was shut down as well. EA and other big companies within the tech industry have seen a massive uptick in layoffs in the first months of 2023.
Many employees within this new climate continue to grow more worried about what the future might hold for them.