Electronic Arts Shutters Baton Rouge Studio And Lays Off Over 200 QA Testers

March 2, 2023 Marc Marasigan Comments

Electronic Arts laid off its entire Baton Rouge studio earlier this week, a studio that housed over 200 quality assurance testers for Apex Legends. EA reportedly broke the unfortunate news to the studio’s staff over Zoom at the end of their shifts and handed out 60 days of severance pay as compensation.

EA says that the layoffs were part of their plans to expand globally and claims that the studio’s closure will benefit the testing process of Apex Legends in the long run.

“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,” a studio rep told Kotaku. “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.”

The news comes just a few months after EA decided to pull the plug on Apex Legends mobile after it fell short of the studio’s expectations. Our sympathies go out to those affected by the layoffs.