Electronic Arts (EA) has confirmed the cancellation of its highly anticipated Black Panther game, inspired by the iconic Marvel superhero, and has also closed down Cliffhanger Games, the studio responsible for its development. This decision marks the third wave of layoffs at EA within the current year and will lead to an indeterminate number of job losses at the company. Earlier in April, EA terminated hundreds of staff members at its Respawn Entertainment studio, the developers of Star Wars Jedi, along with additional cuts at other divisions, and also halted production on a Titanfall project.
EA Cancels Black Panther Game
In a communication to employees shared with IGN, Laura Miele, President of EA Entertainment, stated that the closure of Cliffhanger Games and the cancellation of the game would help the company to concentrate its efforts on what she termed “the most significant growth opportunities.”
While EA has not disclosed the specific number of employees impacted by this latest restructuring, the company is also laying off a number of staff within its mobile and central teams, in addition to those at Cliffhanger Games. However, the total number of job cuts is believed to be fewer than those seen in April, when approximately 300 to 400 positions were eliminated, including around 100 at Respawn.
EA is reportedly making efforts to reassign some of the affected personnel to roles at other studios within the company, similar to its previous initiative that transferred several BioWare employees to different teams after downsizing related to the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
“These decisions are hard,” Miele expressed in her email. “They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”
The company intends to redirect its focus toward its flagship franchises, including Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. In addition, EA plans to continue development of the Iron Man game being produced by Motive Studios and the forthcoming third installment of Star Wars Jedi at Respawn. BioWare will also persist with the development of the next Mass Effect title.
Cliffhanger Games Shut Down
The Black Panther game was first announced in 2023 as a third-person single-player action-adventure project, coinciding with the launch of Cliffhanger Games. Positioned as a “triple-A development studio,” Cliffhanger operated out of Seattle and was collaborating with Marvel Games on this project.
“Our mission is to build an expansive and reactive world that empowers players to experience what it is like to take on the mantle of Wakanda’s protector, the Black Panther,” the studio stated during its announcement.
Cliffhanger was founded under the leadership of Kevin Stephens, who previously worked with Monolith Productions, known for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, before that studio was closed by Warner Bros. in February.
“Wakanda is a rich Super Hero sandbox, and our mission is to develop an epic world for players who love Black Panther and want to explore the world of Wakanda as much as we do,” Stephens had expressed when the game was initially revealed.
In recent weeks, EA has seen significant staff reductions, including the cancellation of a Titanfall game in development at a subsidiary of Respawn. This title, referred to internally as R7, was an extraction shooter set within the Titanfall universe.
Earlier this year, BioWare also experienced layoffs, following the mixed reception of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This reorganization led to dozens more employees being reassigned across EA, with “around two dozen” others being laid off.
