EA cancels Black Panther game and closes studio developing it

EA is cancelling its Black Panther recreation and shutting the studio creating it, Cliffhanger Video games, as half of a bigger spherical of layoffs on the firm, IGN reports. The third-person action-adventure recreation was originally announced in July 2023 as one in every of a number of Marvel tasks being developed at EA studios.

IGN writes {that a} smaller variety of individuals are being laid off than the previous round of cuts that impacted Titanfall developer Respawn, however EA continues to be eliminating roles outdoors of Cliffhanger, together with folks on the writer’s “cell and central groups.” EA is reportedly telling employees that the layoffs are a strategy to “sharpen our focus and put our inventive power behind essentially the most vital development alternatives.”

As of proper now, these “alternatives” embody an Iron Man game in growth at EA Motive, the subsequent Star Wars Jedi recreation from Respawn, and new entries in a number of key franchises, like The Sims, Battlefield, Skate and Apex Legends. Past that, the corporate has EA Sports activities and the subsequent Mass Impact recreation, although Bioware has gone by multiple rounds of layoffs since 2023, so there’s uncertainty there, too. In an identical strategy to the way it approached Bioware’s restructuring, IGN experiences that EA is looking for roles for no less than some Cliffhanger Video games employees in different elements of the corporate.

Engadget has contacted EA for remark and can replace this text if we hear again.

EA rising disinterest in licensed video games as been public since no less than February 2024, when CEO Andrew Wilson announced that the corporate was “shifting away from growth of future licensed IP that we don’t consider can be profitable in our altering trade.” The corporate lately introduced a brand new technique recreation utilizing the Star Wars license — Star Wars Zero Company — however that appears extra like an outlier than the norm.

EA’s Black Panther recreation wasn’t the one mission that includes the character — Amy Hennig’s Marvel 19943: Rise of Hydra hasn’t been cancelled but — but it surely does appears unusual the corporate gave up so simply. Black Panther made over $1.3 billion throughout its unique run in theaters. It appears totally doable the identical viewers that loved the film would present up for a brand new recreation that includes their favourite Marvel character.