While EA hasn’t exactly been known as the best company to work for, the company has come under even more fire lately over several concerning insights into how it operates. On top of having just laid off a massive amount of talent, which shut down Bioware and caused the cancellation of the next Mass Effect game, a new update reveals a concerning insight into why the company is making such drastic changes.
If the recent report by Vertical Slice, which was shared by HazzadorGamin on X, it isn’t just the prospects of EA that are facing some major upsets, but the actual working environment itself has gone downhill directly as a result of heavy AI adoption.
EA Is Going All In On Generative AI
According to several sources from current employees and previous workers at EA, “morale has been terrible” as developers are forced to cover the same workflow with far fewer employees, all while saying “AI technology is being pushed heavily” by higher ups.
While the workers did note that AI wasn’t mandated yet, they’ve gone on record saying “the message from every single manager I’ve heard is ‘this is the future, you have to get onboard.” Even with employees pushing back against AI or showing clear concerns about the feasibility of their new workload, upper management is still apparently “very excite about Claude and the possibilities of AI.”
EA is far from the only company heavily pushing for AI either, as Tim Sweeney has recently been continuing to push for generative AI for both the Epic Games launcher and Fortnite, while even calling out Steam for not supporting the new industry.
A Red Flag For Some Upcoming Games
As if the insight into EA’s current practices wasn’t already concerning enough and all the more tragic for potentially being a major reason why studios like Bioware ended up getting shuttered, it also raises several alarm bells for their upcoming projects.
Having just teased the development of Battlefront 3 combined with numerous major triple-a titles that fans have been eagerly awaiting for years at this point, the fact that AI could pop up in just about any of them on release would be a major blow to fans that have continued to support EA’s games throughout the years.
Even putting aside the concerns over an influx of AI that could seep into upcoming titles like Jedi Survivor, Iron Man, and the rumored Battlefront 3, as employees have also noted the shift to AI and sudden layoffs has been “wildly disruptive” to the development of their current projects, which could face drastic changes or even cancellations should the trend continue.
- Date Founded
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May 27, 1982
- CEO
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Andrew Wilson
- Headquarters
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Redwood City, California, United States
