Report: Electronic Arts shutters Seattle-area studio Cliffhanger Games, cancels ‘Black Panther' game
Black Panther prepares to receive MoPOP exhibit visitors. (GeekWire File Photo / Frank Catalano)
Electronic Arts plans to shutter its subsidiary Cliffhanger Games and has canceled development on its debut project, an original video game starring Marvel's Black Panther. IGN first reported the news.
Cliffhanger was formerly based in Kirkland, Wash. An unknown number of employees are affected by the closure, which comes alongside a wave of layoffs at other departments within EA. According to LinkedIn, Cliffhanger employed 74 people, and had been onboarding new hires as recently as last month.
IGN reported that EA has adopted a recent policy where laid-off employees may end up reassigned to other teams within the company rather than simply dismissed. Despite several waves of dismissals and reorganizations in the last two years, EA reportedly has a higher overall headcount now than it did in 2024.
According to an internal EA email from president Laura Miele, cited by IGN, Cliffhanger's shutdown is part of a series of changes that are intended to 'sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.'
Cliffhanger debuted in 2023 under the leadership of former Monolith Productions studio head Kevin Stephens, after a two-year incubation period. It had yet to divulge any real details about its Black Panther project, but the earliest reports about Cliffhanger indicate that BP would've been an open-world action-adventure in the same spirit as Monolith's award-winning Shadow of Mordor.
Electronic Arts, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., is one of the largest independent video game companies left in the modern industry. It's arguably best known to mainstream audiences for its Madden and FIFA sports games, but has also produced big hits like Battlefield, Dead Space, Mass Effect, and Apex Legends.
Its recent layoffs have been attributed to a process of reorganization and refocus that was first announced in 2024 by CEO Andrew Wilson, which he called 'leading through an accelerated industry transformation.'
Cliffhanger's closure is the latest in a series of shutdowns and layoffs that have plagued the international video game industry for over two years. In the Pacific Northwest, impacted companies include Phoenix Labs, Monolith Productions, Rec Room, and Wizards of the Coast's Project Sigil team.
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