EA will be shutting down its Apex Legends UK QA team, with around 50 contracted workers affected.
According to sources who spoke with Insider Gaming under the condition of anonymity, workers were called into a ‘Business Update’ Zoom call yesterday, where it was announced that their contracts would not be renewed. Bizarrely, managers and project leads were left in the dark about the news, only to find out by those affected after the call that QA contracts wouldn’t be renewed.
The UK team, established in 2022, was responsible for QA on Apex Legends from Season 16.
During the call, it was said that the decision not to renew contracts wasn’t due to the team’s performance but to a “restructuring of the business.” Sources said that the team performed well and hit all its internal targets and goals. It’s understood that this is not among the 670 employees who were laid off from EA in late February.
“Everything seemed to be heading to a normal renewal ready to tackle the next year of plans for Apex,” said one source who was blindsided by the news.
The decision has meant that those affected are now scrambling to find jobs, as some contracts expire in a matter of weeks.
In March 2024, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that Apex Legends has a community of “hundreds of millions of players” and Apex would be expanding “beyond the traditional battle royale universe” later this year.
UPDATE – It’s understood that the number of those affected is likely closer to 40 than 50.
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