Both EA and ArenaNet Report Incoming "Massive" Layoffs

And things go from bad to worse in the games industry.

While everyone was still shaking from the firing of 800 employees from across all of Activision-Blizzard, EA and ArenaNet have announced just the other day in two separate but shockingly similar reveals that they, too, are going to be laying off people: EA has let go of around 40 to 50 people from one of their studios, called Firemonkey, which is an Australian game studio that works exclusively in the mobile sector on titles such as Real Racing 3, The Sims: Freeplay and Need for Speed: No Limits. Meanwhile, Arenanet, the developer behind Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, will also undergo “massive” layoffs, but it’s not known exactly yet how many people will be affected in this 400-person team.

For EA, the decision to let go of so many people stems from a decision to “shift teams to focus more on live services”. On top of that, EA representatives were quick to point out that despite fears both inside and outside the company, Firemonkey as a studio would not be shutting down. And while 40-50 people might not seem like a big deal, the Australian chapter of Game Workers Unite estimates that it represents nearly 10% of the entire Australian game development industry… which should clue you in to how small it actually is.

ArenaNet, too, justified the layoffs, although for a far different reason: Guild Wars 2 is an old game and ArenaNet hasn’t put out anything enormously money-making in the past few years. This is a problem for their owner, the Korean company called NCSoft West, whose CEO said:

“Our live game business revenue is declining as our franchises age, delays in development on PC and mobile have created further drains against our revenue projects, while our operating costs in the west have increased… Where we are is not sustainable, and is not going to set us up for future success.”

ArenaNet isn’t the only developer to suffer from NCSoft’s decision to cut costs: they were also the force behind the shutdown of Carbine Studios and their MMORPG, Wildstar.

I’ve been reporting on this industry for a long time, and layoffs are an unfortunately common fact of life. However, I can’t remember a single time so many people have been laid off in such a short time. For example: in 2018, the year Telltale shut down, the games industry had let go of over 1000 people by the end of the year.

But we’re only two months through 2019 and we’ve already nearly matched that number.

I don’t want to say we’re rushing towards another great crash within the industry. But it’s hard to look at what’s happening and not feel worried.

Which studio will be the next to fall victim to 2019?