Morale at EA Is Reportedly at Rock Bottom After BioWare Closure

According to employee accounts, things are far from good at Electronic Arts. Just last week, the company announced the closure of BioWare, known for the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, and ongoing layoffs are reportedly having a negative impact on the workplace atmosphere.

Several current and former employees told Vertical Slice that the layoff process has been extremely chaotic and impersonal. Management reportedly communicates so little about changes that some workers only find out their colleagues have left through their public LinkedIn posts.

Layoffs are also reportedly being announced during Zoom video calls, with chat disabled and participants unable to see who else is attending. This leaves employees unable to ask questions or communicate with colleagues in the same situation.

“Morale is terrible,” said one anonymous source. According to them, management has repeatedly promoted the slogan “do less, better,” but in practice, employees are still doing the same amount of work with fewer people.

Generative AI is another source of frustration. According to the accounts, senior management has high expectations for tools like Claude, while the development teams themselves are not enthusiastic about this direction. Some managers have reportedly told employees that AI is the future and they have to adapt to it.

Although using these tools may not be mandatory yet, one source fears that management will gradually shape workflows so that doing the job without AI becomes very difficult or practically impossible. Employees are also critical of managers who, they say, are losing touch with the realities of game development and the needs of their own teams.

The current situation follows EA’s acquisition by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which also includes Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and Silver Lake. The $55 billion acquisition was completed in August, and employees were already concerned about widespread layoffs when it was announced.

As part of the transaction, the company took on approximately $20 billion in debt. Shortly after the acquisition was completed, it reportedly presented investors with a plan to cut annual costs by $700 million, including $170 million in so-called organizational savings.

One employee compared an internal email about organizational changes to text written by a bot. They said it best captures EA today: a cold company where management focuses on bringing in more money while ordinary employees wonder how they will provide for their families.

These are anonymous accounts that offer a glimpse into the company’s atmosphere, but they may not necessarily reflect the experiences of all Electronic Arts employees.

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