Respawn Silently Halts Development on an FPS Multiplayer Prototype

Apex Legends developer Respawn has canceled an incubation project this week, and laid off an unknown number of individuals working on it in the process.

This news was first reported by Insider Gaming, sourcing a now-unavailable LinkedIn post from a former production coordinator who wrote that “The unannounced incubation project I was a part of for the past year was canceled this week, so I am joining the group of extremely talented and kind people in the games industry searching for a new role.”

IGN has been able to independently confirm that Respawn has canceled an unannounced incubation project. IGN understands this was a multiplayer FPS (for which at least one job posting was listed last year) spun off by members of an internal team that was formerly working on a Star Wars FPS at Respawn, which was itself canceled last year. IGN can also confirm that a number of individuals have been laid off as part of the cancellation. Though we are unable to confirm the exact number, it has been characterized as “small” by a source familiar with the project. IGN has also identified at least one individual connected to the project who has clarified on LinkedIn that their departure was voluntary.

This continues an ongoing trend of canceled projects, layoffs, and restructuring across EA, which kicked off in 2023 with the elimination of 50 jobs at BioWare and an unknown number more at Codemasters. The culling continued almost exactly one year ago when the company laid off 670 workers company-wide and shuttered multiple projects, including the aforementioned Star Wars FPS. As part of those cuts, around two dozen workers at Respawn lost their jobs. Since then, EA has restructured BioWare, moving developers to other projects internally and laying off another unknown number of key individuals.

IGN has reached out to Electronic Arts for comment.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.