EA cancels upcoming Black Panther game and shuts down its developer
In an internal email shared with IGN, Electronic Arts said it is cancelling the upcoming Black Panther game and shutting down its developer Cliffhanger Games. EA Entertainment president Laura Miele sent the email to staff members and also announced another round of layoffs among the company, although EA did not provide a specific number.
This new wave of layoffs is the third one this year, following another round last month that saw around 300 jobs cut from Respawn and EA's Fan Care teams. 'These decisions are hard,' Miele wrote (transcribed by IGN). '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.'
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EA says it plans to relocate affected employees to other teams at the company to preserve as many jobs as possible. Miele's email says EA is refocusing its efforts on a smaller number of franchises — presumably its most profitable IPs — including Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. EA, like numerous other publishers, has taken hits from the recent economic uncertainty and the turbulence of the gaming industry.
Despite the cancellation of the Black Panther game, Miele says the Iron Man game is still in development at Motive. She also once more confirmed the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and said Bioware is still working on the next Mass Effect entry.
Little is known about what the Black Panther title was supposed to be, exactly, but EA had originally planned for it to be an open-world single-player game. It was part of a three-game deal, including Iron Man and a third, as-yet-unannounced game. There is no word on whether the unannounced title has been affected by this move or not.
2025 has seen waves of layoffs across the entire gaming industry, and the previous two years weren't much better. In response, many workers in the industry banded together to form the United Videogame Workers, a union focused on protecting employee rights and ensuring better working conditions.
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