{"id":278,"date":"2025-05-29T10:06:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/?p=278"},"modified":"2025-05-30T11:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T11:20:24","slug":"ea-to-lay-off-up-to-400-employees-after-black-panther-game-cancelled-says-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/ea-to-lay-off-up-to-400-employees-after-black-panther-game-cancelled-says-source\/","title":{"rendered":"EA to lay off up to 400 employees after Black Panther game cancelled says source"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Black\t<\/div>
So much for Wakanda Forever (EA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite scrapping its Black Panther game and the studio that was making it, EA<\/a> claims to be committed to its partnership with Marvel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AAA superhero games seem to be cursed at the moment. Marvel\u2019s Wolverine continues to be MIA, following the disastrous hacking incident<\/a> in 2023, DC\u2019s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League<\/a> was a financial bomb<\/a>, and the long anticipated Wonder Woman game<\/a> was cancelled before we got to see any of it.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s been confirmed that EA\u2019s Black Panther game<\/a>, which was formally announced less than two years ago as the debut title for Cliffhanger Games, will also never see the light of day.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Cliffhanger Games itself is being shut down, with members of EA\u2019s central and mobile development teams to be laid off too.<\/p>\n

An internal email, sent out by EA Entertainment president Laura Miele, described the news as an attempt to \u2018sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.\u2019<\/p>\n

There’s no official confirmation of how many people are being let go from the company, but IGN<\/a> believes the number of affected employees is less than the 300 to 400 who EA let go only last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018These decisions are hard, Miele added. \u2018They affect people we\u2019ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We\u2019re doing everything we can to support them – including finding opportunities within EA, where we\u2019ve had success helping people land in new roles.\u2019<\/p>\n

As disastrous as all these recent layoffs at EA are, one rumour claims they\u2019re only set to get worse. In the wake of Black Panther\u2019s cancellation, Xbox Game Pass leaker extas1s took to X<\/a> to say he\u2019s heard roughly 400 more employees will be let go. This apparently includes the closure of F1 25<\/a> developer Codemasters.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Iron\t<\/div>
Should we be worried for Iron Man too? (EA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While these claims have yet to be corroborated, it\u2019s easy to be worried for Codemasters when it lost the WRC licence<\/a> earlier this month, with EA announcing it was \u2018pausing development plans on future rally titles.\u2019<\/p>\n

It’s especially worrying as EA’s use of the F1 licence runs out this year, following the launch of F1 25<\/a>, which in this context seems a very ominous omen.<\/p>\n

Last year, EA said it would be moving away from working on licensed IP to focus on its own franchises<\/a>; something Miele reiterated in her email.<\/p>\n

Despite this, EA has insisted that its partnership with Marvel<\/a> is still in effect. This deal was announced as consisting of three games: Black Panther, an Iron Man title at Motive Studio, and a third game that\u2019s still under wraps.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our partnership with Marvel remains strong and our multi-title, long-term collaboration continues,\u2019 said Miele. Whether this means EA will cook up a replacement for Black Panther or stick to only two games is unclear.<\/p>\n

Little was known about the Black Panther project outside of it being an open world single-player game<\/a>, although one of the first rumours about it (before it was even announced) claimed that you would play as a brand new character<\/a> who would take up the mantle, rather than T\u2019Challa himself.<\/p>\n

Allegedly leaked concept art from a user survey apparently confirms this. According to notfunEman on X<\/a>, T\u2019Challa would be kidnapped by the Skrull alien race and his son would be one of several playable characters.<\/p>\n

Black Panther fans will hopefully still get the chance to play as the superhero in next year\u2019s Marvel 1943: Rise Of Hydra<\/a>, though that one doesn\u2019t star T\u2019Challa either but instead his grandfather, Azzuri.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Marvel\t<\/div>
This one will see Black Panther team up with Captain America to fight Nazis (Skydance New Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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For more stories like this, check our Gaming page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2023\/10\/27\/eas-iron-man-game-lands-acclaimed-squirrel-girl-comic-writer-19730054\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">EA\u2019s Iron Man game lands acclaimed Squirrel Girl comic writer<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2023\/12\/21\/spider-man-2-developer-insomniac-facing-job-losses-budget-cuts-20011076\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">Spider-Man 2 developer Insomniac facing job losses and budget cuts<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><title>Arrow<\/title><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/19\/netease-celebrates-marvel-rivals-success-sacking-director-staff-22586283\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\">NetEase celebrates Marvel Rivals success by sacking director and staff<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So much for Wakanda Forever (EA) Despite scrapping its Black Panther game and the studio that was making it, EA claims to be committed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}