EA’s ‘evolving business needs’ means layoffs at UK Studio Codemasters
Electronic Arts has laid off an unknown number of employees at its UK studio Codemasters – the team behind F1 ’23, Dirt and Grid.
F1 ’23 has been nominated for Best Sports/Racing title at this week’s Game Awards but that has not been enough to stop cuts with EA telling IGN, “Our business is constantly changing as we strive to deliver amazing games and services that keep our players engaged, connected, and inspired,” the statement read.
“At times, this requires the company to make small-scale organizational changes that align our teams and resources to meet evolving business needs and priorities. We continue to work closely with those affected by these changes, providing appropriate support throughout this process.”
Founded during the 8-bit computing boom in the 1980s, Codemasters was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2021 for $1.2 billion and has been one of the go-to studios for racing games over the past decade and more.
Sign of the times
The UK games industry, and the wider industry worldwide has been tightening its belt of late with redundancy rounds at many large operators including Frontier Developments and Epic Games. All this at a time the gaming industry is projected to reach a revenue of $249.6 billion by the end of the year according to Statista and grow at an annual rate of over 9% up to 2028.
With racing games such as the Forza and Gran Turismo series seemingly set to stay on the top of the pile for the foreseeable future on Xbox and PlayStation respectively, it seems EA sees less of an opportunity for its racing franchises, including Burnout and Need for Speed, to make any considerable inroads into the genre.
It is unclear as yet as to how many workers will be affected by the news, but recent redundancy rounds at other publishers and studios have not been kind. At the time of writing the Codemasters website is very much still in hiring mode, with five open vacancies and Work Here and See Open Roles front and center.
Featured Image: Codemasters
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