Electronic Arts (EA) has reportedly laid off over 200 third-party high quality assurance (QA) testers for Apex Legends, with the information being delivered over an unscheduled Zoom assembly.
Yesterday (February 28) QA contractors at EA’s Baton Rouge studio have been invited to a short-notice Zoom assembly with their contracting company, Magnit Global. During the assembly, three nameless sources instructed Kotaku that Baton Rouge’s total QA crew – numbering over 200 workers – was disbanded.
It’s reported that full-time supervisors weren’t given superior warning of the lay-offs, and affected staff have been escorted by safety to gather their private belongings.
EA simply laid us all off. Baton Rouge workers have been notified at 5am for a Zoom name three hours from then. All contracts terminated, no discover earlier than then. We skilled our replacements. We weren’t allowed to talk on the problem.
— eddie (@IAmAChuckster) February 28, 2023
Speaking anonymously to EpicGames News, one of many staff fired by EA says they came upon concerning the assembly by means of an e-mail at 5AM – simply 4 hours after they completed their final shift at 1AM. “I immediately talked to some coworkers and we all felt anxious about it and decided to stay up together to wait for the call,” they shared.
“The call was five minutes long, we were told that all of our contracts were terminated effective immediately [because] EA wish to have a more ‘globally diverse’ testing team to better represent the end user for the game.”
The supply claims that between 200 and 250 contractors have been laid off, and offered a 60 day full-pay severance package deal.
Speaking to EpicGames News, a second supply says that the individual in command of the assembly “immediately muted and disabled comments for everyone” earlier than saying their contracts have been terminated, efficient instantly.
“All of this game with no prior warning, and we weren’t allowed to ask questions,” they added. “At the start of the meeting, he said that we weren’t authorised to record the meeting.”
In a doc considered by EpicGames News, Magnit Corporation despatched out a letter studying “Dear Magnit worker assigned to EA,” which explains that EA is “ending their manual testing operation in Baton Rouge.”
However, the doc is dated September 2022 – resulting in some QA staff suggesting that regardless of the brief discover, their termination has been deliberate for months.
EpicGames News has reached out to Magnit for remark relating to the doc, and can replace this story if we obtain a response.
In an announcement offered to EpicGames News by EA, a spokesperson mentioned:
“Testing games is an integral part of delivering the best experiences for our players. As part of our ongoing global strategy, we are expanding the distribution of our Apex Legends testing team and ending testing execution that’s been concentrated in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, impacting services provided by our third-party provider.”
“Our global team, inclusive of remote playtesters across the U.S., enables us to increase the hours per week we’re able to test and optimize the game and reflects a commitment to understand and better serve our growing community around the world,” they continued.
In different gaming information, Ubisoft’s studio behind Beyond Good & Evil 2 is reportedly dealing with a labour investigation relating to the well-being of its builders.
