'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor' Developer Claims Morale "At An All Time Low" After EA Shut Down 'Black Panther' Studio
Patrick Wren, a Senior Encounter Design developer on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor at EA subsidiary Respawn revealed that employee morale at the company is “at an all time low.”
After it was reported that EA was shutting down Cliffhanger Games, one of its other subsidiaries, and its in-development Black Panther game, Wren wrote on BlueSky, “Morale has been at an all-time low. I can say that much.”
READ: Former 'Dragon Age' Lead Writer Claims EA Wanted New Audience, Was Not Worried About RPG Players
In another post he added, “I am just sorry for everyone who just wants to make cool video games in this industry.”
Not only did EA shut down Cliffhanger Games and scrap its Black Panther game, but at the end of April, EA and specifically Respawn announced mass layoffs affecting around 100 employees working on Apex Legends, the Star Wars Jedi franchise, and two development projects.
The company announced the layoffs on X, “At Respawn, bold ideas, creative risks, and passionate storytelling have always defined who we are. That spirit has carried us through incredible highs — and sometimes through difficult changes, too.”
“As we sharpen our focus for the future, we’ve made the decision to step away from two early-stage incubation projects and make some targeted team adjustments across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi,” the statement continued. “These decisions aren’t easy, and we are deeply grateful to every teammate affected — their creativity and contributions have helped build Respawn into what it is today. We’re offering meaningful support to those impacted, including exploring new opportunities within EA.”
The company then provided updates on what to expect with Apex Legend and the Star Wars Jedi franchise.
First, for Apex Legends, it stated, “While the team will continue to refine gameplay and bring new ideas to upcoming seasons, we’re also investing in what’s next for the franchise — exploring bold experiences that push the boundaries of competitive play while staying true to the spirit of competition, creativity, and integrity that our community expects.”
For Star Wars Jedi, it said, “Within the Star Wars universe, we’re excited to build new stories — with the next chapter of the Star Wars Jedi series aiming to raise the bar again for storytelling and gameplay.”
Another EA subsidiary, BioWare, laid off a number of its employees at the end of January after EA revealed the company’s latest release Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed commercially and missed EA’s internal player expectations by nearly 50%.
BioWare General Manager Gary McKay wrote in a blog post, “In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare. Given this stage of development, we don’t require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit.”
What do you make of Wren’s claim that morale is at an all time low at Respawn and EA?
The important thing is what are their preferred pronouns?
I wanted to enjoy the story of Jedi Survivor but they tied it to the very unpopular High Republic, and there were like half a dozen interactable alphabet characters (and a bunch of others mentioned in descriptions). If their morale is low, I'm happy.