Full Circle layoffs follow 15M-player Skate milestone, exposing EA's post-launch staffing model
Summary
EA studio Full Circle confirmed layoffs on February 26, 2026, affecting an undisclosed number of its roughly 200 staff
Cuts arrive five months after Skate's free-to-play early access crossed 15 million players
EA framed the move as "reshaping to better support Skate's long-term future," not a response to underperformance
"It's another difficult day for game developers, and it's exhausting to see this cycle continue across the industry"
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Full Circle layoffs signal EA is treating launch-phase headcount as temporary
Full Circle confirmed cuts but did not disclose how many of its roughly 200 staff were affected
Skate launched in free-to-play early access in September 2025 and hit 15 million players within a month
EA's stated rationale: "reshaping to better support Skate's long-term future and focus the team on the things that matter most"
The studio emphasized affected staff "helped build the foundation of Skate" and that "this decision is not a reflection of their impact"
Timing implies EA views post-ramp headcount as compressible once a live title is operational
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Third EA restructuring event in under 12 months
EA cut 200 roles company-wide in April 2025, framed as "aligning teams and allocating resources in service of driving future growth"
Respawn Entertainment lost 100 staff in the same cycle
Full Circle now marks a third named restructuring within one fiscal year
Pattern suggests systematic post-milestone resizing, not one-off cost correction
Senior environment artist Tyler De Block, with 20-plus years of experience, confirmed his layoff publicly on LinkedIn
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