EA Layoffs Reach Maxis, Motive, Respawn and Ripple Effect, Reports Say

The reported layoffs at Electronic Arts are reaching studios tied to major releases and ongoing game support, including Maxis, Motive Studios, Respawn Entertainment, Ripple Effect and Full Circle. The scope points to a broad restructuring across EA’s development teams, following reports of about 400 job cuts and the announced shutdown of BioWare. The departures named so far span creative, design, art, user experience and operations roles, suggesting the reductions aren’t confined to one kind of work or one studio.

That spread matters because game development depends on teams whose contributions aren’t always visible in a project announcement. A game can remain in development while its staffing, schedule or support plans change. The available reports don’t establish how those plans have changed at EA, but they do show that active projects haven’t shielded every team member from cuts.

Employees confirm cuts across studios

Anna Huerta, formerly senior creative director for The Sims 4 developer Maxis, said on LinkedIn that her role was affected. She described leaving projects and colleagues she cared about as painful, while saying she looked forward to what comes next and valued working with people committed to creativity, collaboration and studio culture. Her account gives the restructuring a human dimension that a company wide tally can’t capture: employees are losing work they’ve invested in alongside the relationships and routines built around it.

One departure doesn’t establish how deeply Maxis has been affected. It does, however, confirm that the reported reductions reach a studio associated with a long running series, where continued development and support are part of the work. The source doesn’t say whether Huerta’s projects will continue unchanged or who will take on her responsibilities, so those questions remain open.

Motive Studios employees also reported losing their jobs. Concept artist Brandon Le and senior gameplay designer Jamieson Shearar confirmed their departures on LinkedIn. Motive is developing Marvel’s Iron Man and supporting Battlefield 6, but those projects haven’t insulated the studio from the cuts.

That’s a telling detail. Announced projects can give audiences a sense of a studio’s direction, but they don’t reveal how a publisher is allocating staff across development, support and other work. In this case, the reported roles cover different disciplines, while the source doesn’t specify whether either project’s schedule, staffing or scope has changed. The gap between a project being active and every person working on it being secure is plain.

At Ripple Effect, character artist Corey Thomas, outsourcing artist Brandon Garcia and technical artist Turner Spring were among those who said their roles had been eliminated. The studio was supporting Battlefield 6 and working on a new experience for the shooter.

Several kinds of art and production work appear in those reports. That doesn’t reveal the full staffing picture, but it does make clear that the impact isn’t limited to a single discipline. In large game projects, different teams contribute at different stages and across ongoing support; a reduction in one group can raise questions about responsibilities elsewhere, even when the company hasn’t described any operational changes.

Respawn, known for Apex Legends and the Star Wars Jedi games, has also lost staff, including UX project manager Randall Wong and operations product manager Catheryn Grant. Vertical Slice reported that Full Circle is among the affected studios as well.

These accounts are individual confirmations, not a complete roster of affected employees. They also don’t give a studio by studio count. Still, the range of names is enough to show that the reported cuts reach well beyond one team or franchise. A partial picture, but a consequential one.

Restructuring reshapes EA’s slate

The staff reductions accompany plans EA outlined in an internal email published publicly. The company said it has two projects in development: Project Gridiron, a social, open-world American football experience, and a new Fight Night game, which is in pre-production.

The descriptions point to different stages of work. A project in pre-production is earlier in development than one already being built out, while the source provides no schedule or staffing details for either title. That makes the announcements useful as a glimpse of EA’s stated priorities, but not enough to determine how much work each project represents or what resources it will require.

COO David Tinson and chief studios officer Cam Weber said EA had canceled multiple projects, including Mass Effect, and was making deliberate choices about where to focus. The company hasn’t said whether its sports development teams will face cuts. Separate reports have suggested the College Football series could be deprioritized in five years, but its future remains uncertain.

Those statements put the staffing news in a broader context: EA is reducing its slate as well as its workforce, according to the information available. But canceled projects, planned projects and employee departures don’t by themselves show precisely how the company will organize its studios or distribute work. The public picture has clear edges and a large blank center.

What the cuts could mean for teams and players

For employees, the immediate consequence is already clear: people across several studios have said their roles were eliminated. For players, the consequences are less certain. Studio reductions can prompt questions about future releases and support, especially when affected teams are attached to active franchises, but the reports here don’t confirm delays, changes to game content or any end to support.

If you're working in this space, the distinction between a project announcement and a stable production plan is worth keeping in view. Publishers can continue to describe games as active while changing the teams assigned to them. That isn’t proof that a project is in trouble; it is a reason to wait for concrete information about staffing, schedules and responsibilities before drawing that conclusion.

(And this is the part most people overlook.) The job titles reported include creative leadership, gameplay design, art, user experience and operations. Those functions shape how teams make and deliver games, even when their work doesn’t feature in a trailer or a release announcement. Their removal can affect how remaining staff divide responsibilities, though EA hasn’t described whether that’s happening here.

This is more significant than it looks because the reports connect restructuring to both announced projects and established franchises, while leaving the practical consequences unanswered. The numbers here are underwhelming as a complete account: about 400 reported cuts doesn’t tell readers which studios lost how many people, or how many departures have yet to be reported. The named employees provide concrete evidence, but not a full map.

For now, the confirmed departures show that work on active franchises and announced projects hasn’t prevented job losses across EA’s studios. The restructuring’s effect on teams beyond those already named is still unclear. EA’s project slate has narrowed, according to its executives, but the company hasn’t provided enough detail to say what that means for each studio or for players awaiting its games.