Hours ago, it was revealed that more than two hundred EA employees were laid off, specifically from Apex Legends’ QA and testing departments. This team, which was centred in Baton Rouge, Florida, is a long-standing department that has existed within Electronic Arts for some time. However, according to insider reports, it has been claimed that even the team’s management staff were unaware that the entire department was being shut down.
Following a mandatory internal call, the 200-strong team was instantly dismissed. There were leaks that fell out from within the beleaguered team just as instantly, confirming the dire circumstances within the Baton Rouge office. Most recently, the team was responsible for testing Apex Legends, the popular battle royale, but in the past, the department had focused on the likes of Battlefield 2042.
And So It Continues
Image Credit: EA
At the moment, the gaming and esports industries are writhing under the weight of a spree of layoffs. In the last few weeks, titans such as Microsoft have seen thousands of redundancies take place, and some esports organisations have collapsed entirely. For instance, last week, The Guard suddenly laid off every employee, and its esports teams – such as the LA Guerrillas in the Call of Duty League – will be scrapped if they’re not bought by the end of the season.
First covered by Kotaku, the news regarding EA’s testers is the latest in a long line of stories to break regarding redundancies in the space. It’s never good news, but we’re becoming desensitised to it these days simply because of how common a theme it’s becoming. In a statement to Kotaku, a spokesperson for EA gave an all-business update on the situation:
‘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 servic
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