One of the largest video game publishers Electronic Arts (EA) is feeling the industry’s tumultuous shift in the streaming age. The industry staple behind games like Apex Legends, Madden, and Battlefield is laying off 350 employees around the globe, Kotaku reports. The EA layoffs are just another sign
Video game industry layoffs have hit close to home as well as Bellevue studio ArenaNet is expecting “big layoffs” and a merger with NCSoft to cut costs across the entire company, Kotaku reports. This company is behind popular MMO-RPG titles like the Guild Wars franchise and employs around 400 people.
Even after a record year in sales with over $40 billion dollars made, video game’s biggest publishers are facing the hard realities that game experiences are shifting and becoming much more niche. Even with the Call Of Duty and Overwatch’s of the world being some of the best selling games of their generation, they’re simply struggling to woo gamer’s attention away from free-to-play behemoths like Fortnite and Apex Legends.
Those two games have a combined player base of roughly 350 million players. While gaming is reaching a wider audience than ever before and making more money because of it, the experiences are becoming much more niche. Game publishers have been forced to rethink game development on the fly which is costing jobs as the old guard shifts towards the new guard.
However, gaming has never been more in demand. E-sports and Twitch have turned
