EA Cancels Respawn’s Star Wars First-Person Shooter Title & Closes Battlefield Studio

It’s a bad few months for the games industry, and it isn’t letting up.

Electronic Arts, or EA, is laying off 5% of its workforce as an effort to focus more heavily on “owned IP, sports, and massive online communities”. Due to this, the company has cancelled Respawn’s upcoming new Star Wars first-person shooter. This title was announced in 2022 and was led by former LucasArts veteran and Medal of Honor co-creator Peter Hirschmann.

In addition, EA has closed down one of its in-house studios Ridgeline Games. The studio is known for working on a future single-player Battlefield title. As for the game itself? It will be under the eye of Criterion Games, who are also handling the recent Need For Speed games.

Gut punched to see EA lay off my team. So many very talented devs who were incredibly valuable to the Battlefield franchise. https://t.co/N3lYSjeO6z

— Marcus Lehto (@game_fabricator) February 28, 2024