EA cancels two projects at Respawn, lays off developers
By Marco Wutz
Electronic Arts has reportedly laid off between 300 and 400 employees among further project cancellations at Respawn Entertainment. According to Bloomberg, a planned extraction shooter set in EA’s Titanfall universe was among the axed games.
A statement by Respawn confirmed the cancellation of “two early-stage incubation projects” and “some targeted team adjustments” that impacted not only those employees working on the axed projects, but also those working on live-service battle royale game Apex Legends and the next iteration of the successful Star Wars Jedi series.
In the statement, Respawn committed to both Star Wars Jedi 3 and an upcoming Apex Legends project, which is being described as “exploring bold experiences that push the boundaries of competitive play while staying true to the spirit of competition, creativity, and integrity that our community expects.”
Respawn went through a similar shake-up last year as well, which saw the cancellation of a Star Wars shooter and a round of layoffs.
Respawn’s next upcoming game is Star Wars Zero Company, a co-production with Bit Reactor set for a 2026 release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
EA recently had to correct its expectations for the ongoing fiscal year downwards following the unexpectedly lukewarm performance of EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The sports game branch announced the release dates for Madden NFL 26 and College Football 26 last week, adding to F1 25’s launch this summer. FC 26 and NHL 26 are set to follow, as usual.
The biggest dish in the oven outside of that seems to be the upcoming Battlefield game at the moment, which is being worked on by several studios and led by Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella.