Electronic Arts News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

A Sims movie adaptation is in the works from Margot Robbie's production company, to be helmed and co-written by Loki director Kate Herron.

The hacker who disrupted the North American Apex Legends Global Series finals has said he did it «just for fun».

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Connie Booth, former executive at Sony, and arguably one of the founders of PlayStation, has now joined Electronic Arts.

Developer Respawn has addressed the recent Apex Legends hacks.

Microsoft has confirmed the next wave of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for console, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Almost two thirds of game development studios are using artificial intelligence in their workflows.

A hacking incident during the Apex Legends Global Series last night has caused wider concerns over Easy Anti-Cheat and whether it's safe to play games it's used in.

Pro players in the Apex Legends North American finals were suddenly given cheats by hackers mid-game, prompting the esports competition to be postponed until further notice. It’s unclear whether this will impact future scheduling.

Marcus Lehto – co-creator of the Halo universe and former lead of the recently shuttered Ridgeline Games – says he doesn't have «anything positive to say about EA».

Port-o-remaster publishers Aspyr yesterday launched the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, bundling together the two 'What if Battlefield but Star Wars?' shooters originally released by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts in 2004 and 2005 (not to be confused with Dice and EA's uncolonic Star Wars Battlefront games from the mid-tensies). It's one of those rereleases that exists mostly for consoles which never saw the games in the first place, made a bit useless on PC by the fact that you can still buy and fully play the originals for half the price. It's made even less useful by launching in a right wonky technical state, with bad lag, crashes, and reportedly only three 64-player servers online at first.

Respawn Entertainment—the studio behind games like Titanfall 2, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Apex Legends—has been hit by layoffs as part of larger cuts taking place throughout EA. As spotted by VGC, various current and now-former members of the Respawn team, including Apex Legends level designer Aaron Stump, took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to talk about the layoffs.

Apex Legends developer Respawn is the latest studio to be affected by EA layoffs.

Released in 2011, Shadows of the Damned remains one of the most beloved third-person shooters from the 2010s. Produced by Shinji Mikami, the director of the first Resident Evil and Dino Crisis games, and written by Suda51, the brain behind No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw, the action-adventure game has a signature style that continues to impress gamers to this day.

Development on free-to-play MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is still going strong after 13 years, with its latest patch adding a new storyline surrounding House Inrokini and highly requested date nights with romanced companions.

Frontier Developments has announced F1 Manager 2024.

Stig Asmussen, the director of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, has revealed his new studio Giant Skull following his departure from Respawn Entertainment and EA last year.

Former Star Wars Jedi series director and God Of War developer Stig Asmussen has founded a new studio, Giant Skull, to work on "gameplay-driven, story immersed action-adventure games set in captivating worlds". Based in Los Angeles, Giant Skull are even now developing a new "AAA single-player-focused action adventure" that runs on Unreal Engine 5.

Just days after Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection – a bundle of 17 Command & Conquer favourites – dropped on Steam, EA is already hinting that there may be more to come.

Former EA and Microsoft exec, Peter Moore, says there are «serious questions» to be asked about video game hardware and whether or not there's a future for the traditional home console system.

Former CEO of SIE America and chairman of Worldwide Studios Shawn Layden has reiterated the importance of exclusivity during a recent podcast appearance.

EA has released a number of its older games onto Steam for the first time, and at a discounted price.

If you wanted to buy any of the games in the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection, Dungeon Keeper, or Sim City 3000 - but didn't want to do it on GOG where they were already on sale - then rejoice! EA has made these classics and more, and for some reason The Saboteur, available on Steam for the first time. You can see the full list of games here. I don't have anything specific against The Saboteur, but I do think it's very funny that the list goes, like, "beloved game from the 90s, beloved game from the 90s, 7/10 action game from 2009, beloved game from the 90s". Also, I can take the opportunity to make fun of Graham and James, the tallest wrongest boys at RPS, who apparently both liked it.

Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 leads the 2024 BAFTA Games Awards with 10 nominations, including Best Game, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Even as they cancel games and carry out mass layoffs, EA see sunny skies ahead for Respawn's free-to-play battle royale shooter Apex Legends, with CEO Andrew Wilson outlining plans to "expand beyond the traditional battle royale universe".

Microsoft held its second Xbox Partner Preview event on Wednesday.

An unannounced STALKER Legends of the Zone Trilogy has been spotted ahead of an official reveal.

Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Surgent Studios have released the gameplay reveal trailer for side-scrolling platformer Tales of Kenzera: ZAU.

The Xbox Partner Preview showcase offered us a look at a number of the third-party games heading to Xbox Series X/S this year. We were shown a variety of trailers during the 30-minute presentation, including a taste of the Japanese mythology inspried Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and the announcement of The Sinking City 2.

Microsoft will stream its latest Xbox Partner Preview event later today.

There’s a reason why fans are mostly excited about the full unveiling of EA Sports College Football 25. It’s been quite a while since the last college football video game, and many feel that college football is as good as it’s been in a while, especially thanks to the college football playoff that’s been going on for a decade. But there was always a “sticky wicket,” if you will, with the original titles. While they tended to use the players’ likenesses within the games and post the best players on the cover like the NFL version did, they never paid the players to use their likenesses.

Microsoft has announced the next batch of titles heading to Xbox Game Pass for console, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

A small team within Respawn are making a fresh game set in the Titanfall universe, it's been reported — but this project won't be Titanfall 3.

The developers of EA’s upcoming Star Wars strategy game have confirmed the project survived last week’s mass layoffs at the publisher and the cancellation of a first-person Star Wars shooter from Apex Legends studio Respawn, who are collaborating on the upcoming title.

Xbox has announced its latest Partner Preview broacast will air this Wednesday, 6th March at 6pm UK time, showcasing upcoming third-party games.

Microsoft will stream its latest Xbox Partner Preview event this Wednesday, March 6.

As any fool knows, the age of girlies bulk-buying silver wire and making their own crystal jewellery at home is over, but EA always arrives precisely when it means to. This weekend saw the release of the Crystal Creations Stuff Pack, a DLC for The Sims 4 that takes the ability to find crystals (already in the game) and straps on your Sims making them into semi-precious, semi-magic jewellery that can be charged up by the moon. What I find more interesting is that this launched with some official IRL Sims plumbob jewellery that you can buy and wear around your own precious, swan-like neck.

Electronic Arts was the latest publisher to join the industry in laying off a portion of its workforce. It also announced the closure of Ridgeline Games, with Criterion now working on future Battlefield campaigns, and cancelled Respawn’s Star Wars FPS (rumored to feature a playable Mandalorian).

The Star Wars strategy game from Bit Reactor and EA is still in development, following the cancellation of a Star Wars shooter by Apex Legends studio Respawn last week.

Still looking for that perfect gift for Mother's Day? How about a curated selection of jewellery inspired by The Sims 4?

EA and BioWare are «pretty confident» that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be released later this year.

Immortals of Aveum saw a very rough debut last summer, with the first-person magic-shooter from new studio Ascendant and EA reportedly suffering poor sales and mixed reviews - resulting in almost half of its developers being laid off mere weeks after its launch. Despite being a reported $125 million flop that “no-one bought”, its director believes that it could still go on to find an audience yet.

If you, like the rest of the internet, have been swept up in the trainwreck that was the Willy Wonka Experience held in an empty warehouse in Glasgow last weekend, we have good news. While you may no longer be able to witness the real event in person, you can always relive it vicariously through your Sims.

While EA has shared some dire news today, it turns out there are still a few licensed games that we can look forward to from the company.

In Shakespeare's Anthony And Cleopatra, said famous woman says "Give to a gracious message an host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell themselves when they be felt." I.e., when you have good news you can go round the houses, but if you have bad news - like sending an all-hands email to the staff at EA to let them know that, less than a year after the last round of layoffs, a further 5% of them are getting booted - then you should just come out and say it as quickly and simply as possible.

Immortals of Aveum is a game which will continue to be discovered by players for «years and years» like Dead Space, according to its director.

EA's closure of Ridgeline Games last night was a «gut punch», the company's former boss Marcus Lehto has now said.

EA has confirmed they are closing Ridgeline Games.

Electronic Arts has announced the closure of Ridgeline Games, the studio working on a new single-player Battlefield campaign.

Electronic Arts is the latest video game company to announce layoffs and video game cancellations.

EA has revealed that they have cancelled a Star Wars FPS game from Respawn Entertainment.

Electronic Arts will reduce 5 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan that also includes a reduction in real estate, the company said on Wednesday, as the video game industry struggles to grow amid high interest rates.

Electronic Arts today announced that it is laying off approximately 5% of its employees as it leans in on the parts of the business it feels will be the most successful in the years to come.

Ridgeline Games founder Marcus Lehto has left the EA studio working on the Battlefield franchise.

Electronic Arts announced the release date on Tuesday, confirming that the next entry in the fan-favorite racing series is set to launch later this year.

F1 24, the latest instalment in EA's annual racing series, is launching for PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam, Epic, and the EA App) on 31st May.

Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Codemasters have announced F1 24 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store). It will launch on May 31 for $69.99.

Halo co-creator and Battlefield game director Marcus Letho has left EA.

Electronic Arts is set to lay off "a small number of staff" due to its decision to close two of its mobile titles: EA Sports MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing.

EA has offered more than 11,000 college football players $600 to appear in EA Sports College Football 25.

Microsoft has confirmed the next wave of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for console, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The Need for Speed team is celebrating the franchise's 30th anniversary with another year of live service content for its most recent release, Unbound.

Immortals of Aveum is being sold in UK supermarket Asda for £1.

One of the three upcoming Star Wars games in development at Apex Legends and Titanfall studio Respawn is reportedly a bounty hunter game where you play as a Mandalorian.

I recently had the pleasure to speak with Abubakar Salim, founder of Surgent Studios and creative director of Tales of Kenzera: Zau, about founding his gaming studio and how his childhood, grief, and becoming a father were essential building blocks in the development of Tales of Kenzera: Zau coming to PS5 April 23. Listen to the full interview below.

Capcom has suggested that it could release more $70 games after Dragon’s Dogma 2, which is the Japanese publisher’s first title to carry the increased price point.

It’s been a while since Respawn Entertainment provided an update on its upcoming Star Wars projects following the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. According to Insider-Gaming’s Tom Henderson, the studio is seemingly cooking a “Star Wars single-player experience I think a lot of people have wanted for a long time.”

A new update for The Sims 4 has added options to give characters vitiligo, the autoimmune disorder which causes patches of skin to lose pigmentation. Rather than a handful of preset full-body patterns, The Sims 4's vitiligo impressively comes as loads of patterns for separate bodyparts, so you can create a wide range of effects. And no, you don't need to buy an expansion for it.

The Sims 4 has partnered with model Winnie Harlow and added a range of Vitiligo skin details to the game as part of a free update.

Magical first-person shooter Immortals Of Aveum launched last August and by the following month half its development team had been laid off due to poor sales.

cross-play and cross-progression between PC and mobile platforms has been leaked. Invites for the EA Skate mobile playtest were sent out to players earlier today and it took just a short amount of time for playtesters to break their NDA. Console cross-play and progression is expected to be included when the game launches as well.

A developer who worked on Immortals of Aveum has said it was “a truly awful idea” to release a game of its type, with such a large budget attached to it.

Immortals of Aveum was a major AAA from EA that came and went. Some gamers may have literally not known that the game came out, after it generated hype from the trailer, since it barely gets talked about today. Now, some of the game’s former developers get candid about what happened.

BT has apologised after it emerged that some broadband customers are being charged for Xbox Game Pass subscriptions without their knowledge.

Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind The Callisto Protocol, is working on a new Unreal Engine 5 game.

People Can Fly, the developer behind the likes of Outriders and Bulletstorm, has reportedly laid off «over 30 people» working on a currently unannounced game — codenamed Project Gemini — that's set to be published by Square Enix.

Tekken 8 has received an update that changes an accessibility mode flagged as potentially harmful.

Bandai Namco is planning to update Tekken 8’s accessibility options after players raised safety concerns about some of its colour blind filters.

Electronic Arts and PopCap Studios have soft launched Plants vs Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia.

F1 23 is soon joining Game Pass.