EA Cancels Black Panther Game, Closes Cliffhanger Games

Electronic Arts is canceling its planned Black Panther crippled and shutting down developer Cliffhanger Games, IGN has learned.

In an email sent to unit from EA Entertainment president Laura Miele, Miele said that these changes, alongside different caller cancellations and layoffs, are being done to "sharpen our absorption and enactment our originative vigor down the astir important maturation opportunities."

In summation to closing Cliffhanger and canceling Black Panther, EA is besides laying disconnected immoderate individuals connected some its mobile and cardinal teams. When asked for an nonstop fig of individuals impacted, EA declined to comment. IGN understands the full fig of affected individuals successful this question is little than the astir 300 roles chopped past period crossed Respawn and EA's Fan Care teams - but cannot corroborate by however much.

"These decisions are hard," Miele wrote. "They impact radical we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared existent moments with. We’re doing everything we tin to enactment them — including uncovering opportunities wrong EA, wherever we’ve had occurrence helping radical onshore successful caller roles."

As with past rounds of layoffs, EA is endeavoring to spot affected individuals successful different roles crossed the company. The institution has made usage of this placement programme with each circular of layoffs successful caller years, an effort that remains imaginable contempt the changeless squad cuts apt owed to EA seemingly drastically expanding headcount connected different teams astatine the aforesaid time. Per Game File's reporting, EA employed 800 much radical arsenic of March of this twelvemonth than it did the aforesaid clip successful 2024.

To that end, Miele's email continues, the institution is focusing connected a tiny fistful of franchises going forward: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. Miele besides reassures EA volition proceed to put successful its Iron Man crippled astatine Motive and the 3rd Star Wars: Jedi game, arsenic good arsenic it support its mobile concern contempt today's cuts, portion Bioware works connected the adjacent Mass Effect. Additionally, past year, CEO Andrew Wilson announced the institution would beryllium "moving distant from improvement of aboriginal licensed IP that we bash not judge volition beryllium palmy successful our changing industry."

The email doesn't notation EA Sports, but this is owed to Miele moving EA Entertainment, portion EA Sports is simply a abstracted division. IGN understands that the sports part is unaffected by these changes for now.

Notably, Marvel and EA's statement for Black Panther was portion of a three-game woody that included Iron Man and a third, unannounced title. Little has been shown of Black Panther truthful acold since its announcement successful 2023, though we cognize from a occupation listing it was to beryllium a single-player, action-adventure, open-world game. Black Panther was being developed by the newly-formed, now-closed Cliffhanger Games, which was formed successful 2023 with immoderate erstwhile developers of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and headed up by Kevin Stephens.

These cuts travel connected the heels of aggregate different rounds of layoffs and cancelations astatine EA implicit the past fewer years and particularly successful 2025. Just past month, EA laid disconnected astir 300 individuals, including astir 100 astatine Respawn, portion canceling an in-development Titanfall crippled and different incubation project. Earlier this year, EA restructured BioWare, moving immoderate developers to different projects and laying disconnected others. In 2024, determination was a monolithic restructuring astatine EA that resulted successful 670 workers laid disconnected company-wide, including astir 2 twelve workers astatine Respawn. And successful 2023, 50 jobs were chopped astatine BioWare and an chartless fig were chopped astatine Codemasters.

Meanwhile, EA precocious implemented mandatory return-to-office for each workers, a determination that immoderate employees told IGN has near galore presently distant workers with concerns astir what volition hap to their roles long-term.

When asked for remark connected the nonstop fig impacted, the reasons for these repeated cuts, oregon if much cuts are expected successful the adjacent future, EA referred IGN backmost to Miele's email. Marvel has not yet responded to IGN's petition for comment.

Rebekah Valentine is simply a elder newsman for IGN. You tin find her posting connected BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a communicative tip? Send it to [email protected].