Summary
Earlier today, it was confirmed byApex LegendsandStar Wars Jedi: Survivordeveloper Respawn Entertainment that it hascanceled two projects that were early in development, one of them reportedly being another Titanfall spinoff. It was also confirmed that a wave of layoffs would follow the cancelation, which will reportedly see between 300-400 lose their jobs.
It’s very sad news, but not totally unexpected if you’ve been keeping up to date with publisher Electronic Arts' financial situation recently. During an earnings call last year,it was revealed that most of its big releases throughout 2024 failed to meet up to expectations, withDragon Age: The Veilguard, Apex Legends, andEA Sports FC 25all named as disappointments.
Due to all the conversation and toxicity that surrounded Dragon Age: The Veilguard during its release (and even now still), it was pushed to the front and blamed for most of EA’s financial woes. To make it clear, missing your expected player count by a whopping 50 percent is death for any series, but it has now been claimed that the underperformance of EA Sports FC 25 and Apex Legends were far more integral to the fate of Respawn.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Wasn’t Responsible For Respawn Layoffs, Claims Insider
Shortly after Respawn’s statement about the cancelations and layoffs,industry insider Jeff Grubbclaimed that Dragon Age “isn’t even a factor” in the decision. Grubb seems to have pretty decent connections within EA and Respawn,having firmly shut down rumors of Titanfall 3’s existence earlier this month, and now Grubb claims that EA Sports FC 25 and Apex Legends were likely the main reason behind this new round of layoffs.
It makes sense really, as both will be far more valuable to EA than Dragon Age, and a small hit to those two behemoths will have had a much larger impact than a big hit to Dragon Age. In any case, it simply blows that we’re now having to deal with yet more mass layoffs at a big studio, and fingers crossed Respawn and those affected can pick themselves back up again.
