Electronic Arts (EA) announced on Wednesday (29th) that it will cut about 6% of its workforce.

(Reuters file photo)

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Technology companies have led a new wave of layoffs as U.S. companies brace for a potential recession amid rising global interest rates.

Electronic Arts (EA) announced on Wednesday (29th) that it will lay off about 6% of its staff and reduce its office space, becoming the first major video game publisher to announce layoffs.

Reuters reported that both Facebook parent company Meta and Amazon announced second rounds of layoffs this month.

According to data from U.S. recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the tech industry lost 63,000 jobs in the first two months of this year.

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EA is the publisher of well-known games such as "FIFA" and "The Sims". As of the end of March last year, the company had about 12,900 employees. The cost related to the restructuring is expected to fall at 170 million US dollars (approx. NT$5.16 billion) to US$200 million (approximately NT$6.08 billion).

EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said that as the company focused more on its portfolio, it was ditching projects that didn't contribute to strategy, revisiting office space and restructuring some teams.

Wilson also mentioned that EA will give employees the opportunity to transfer to other projects, and if this opportunity is missed, the company will provide severance and additional benefits.

Game publishers are also grappling with slowing player spending in the face of inflation surging to multi-decade highs, and rapid growth during the pandemic has now been reversed.

Video game sales are flat so far this year, while spending on cross-platform video game content is down 2%, according to analytics firm Circana.

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