Kotaku sources report that on February 28, Electronic Arts (EA) fired all testers who worked in the Baton Rouge office – more than 200 people. They were mainly engaged in Apex Legends.
According to the publication, EA announced the layoffs at an unscheduled meeting in Zoom. The company’s decision to make cuts came as a surprise to everyone, including studio executives. EA allowed employees to pick up personal belongings under the supervision of security and promised to pay severance pay for 60 days of work.
EA, in a comment for Kotaku, indirectly confirmed the cuts in Baton Rouge, but did not name the number of those laid off. The company stated that it intends to make the testing team more distributed.
Recall that in May last year EA carried out similar cuts in Austin and Galway, cutting more than 100 support specialists in a day. Then Kotaku sources reported that the tasks of the dismissed employees were going to be outsourced to Romania and India.