According to Kotaku, according to EA's internal email, the company will cut a large number of customer service staff in its Austin Office, which may affect up to 100 employees, many of whom are relevant staff of FIFA 22. Earlier, EA announced that it would terminate FIFA from 2023 and rename its popular FIFA Football series EA Sports FC.
Joel Knutson, vice president of EA customer experience, said in an email to employees that the company needs to continue to develop, provide better game experience for fans and players, and is improving the company's service and support model. In order to reduce complexity and improve efficiency, flexibility and scalability, some positions in Austin will be cancelled. He also proposed that similar positions in Galway (western port city of Ireland) office, which provides customer service support for European players in EA, will also be cut.
An insider told Kotaku that the main contents of the job cuts include providing relevant support to players who encounter problems in the series of games such as FIFA 22 by means of e-mail, chat and telephone, such as micro trading in the game. After the layoffs, these positions will be outsourced. The source said that the decision was made after EA Austin and Galway employees complained repeatedly about the insufficient annual salary increase (only $0.10 per hour). In another fiscal year announced by EA last week, the momentum of "FIFA" series and other sports games is still strong, which is largely due to the good customer service of the game.
However, the EA representative told Kotaku in an email that the changes related to the company's customer service function had nothing to do with the announcement of EA Sports FC released last week. According to the email, EA is adding 10 new mobile game customer service jobs, and the laid-off employees can apply.
When asked whether the layoff is to reduce costs, EA spokesman Charlie Fortescue said that the company is always thinking about how to improve the player experience, including how the company can best provide the support that players may need to fully enjoy the game. With this in mind, the company suggests making some adjustments to the customer service function to provide greater flexibility so that we can provide help when players need it most. As part of this process, the company is considering changing some roles in the team, removing some roles and creating new roles. In the whole process, the company will cooperate closely with employees and provide support to anyone affected.