Star Wars Jedi and Titanfall studio Respawn Entertainment has been hit by further layoffs, and the studio has also opted to cancel two of its “early-stage incubation projects”.
Per a post on X, Respawn announces its decisions to “step away” from the aforementioned projects and to “make some targeted team adjustments” to teams working on Star Wars Jedi and Apex Legends. The projects in question aren’t named, though.
The studio says it’s “offering meaningful support to those impacted, including exploring new opportunities within EA”, and that the decisions to cancel the projects and lay off the staff members in question “[weren’t] easy”.
Respawn doesn’t say which staff departments have been particularly affected by these layoffs, but it does say that the “next chapter” of the Star Wars Jedi series will “raise the bar again for storytelling and gameplay”, so that’s not one of the canceled projects.
The recently-revealed Star Wars Zero Company, a turn-based tactics game set in the dying days of the Clone Wars, also won’t be affected; it’s not an early-stage incubation project, after all, but one that’s been fully unveiled.
Rumors are swirling that a third Titanfall game is in development, but those rumors are fairly insubstantial at the moment, so it’s impossible to say whether that was one of the games Respawn decided to can.
We do, however, know that this isn’t the first time in the last year or so that Respawn has been hit by layoffs. In March last year, it was revealed that EA would lay off 5% of its workforce, and that a Star Wars FPS in development at Respawn would be canceled, with layoffs also hitting the studio.
The latest layoffs at Respawn come as part of a wave that’s still sweeping the industry, with studios like BioWare, Iron Galaxy, and even Microsoft letting staff go in recent months.
We’ll have to wait and see how these layoffs and project cancellations affect Respawn. Stay tuned for more on this as soon as we get it.