Big AAA games are dead. Smaller games are the future.

It’s happened again. Layoffs.

EA let go of several employees from DICE, Criterion Studios, Motive, and Ripple Effect. What's the common denominator? All of these studios worked on Battlefield 6.

You know what makes this worse? According to Circana, Battlefield 6 was the best-selling game of 2025.

Layoffs after success aren’t new. Games like Hi-Fi Rush were profitable and still led to closure. Whole publishers, like Activision, laid off workers despite historical profits.

The games industry isn’t safe. The business of games needs to change. Change starts with big publishers investing in smaller, profitable games. It may take the industry a while to get there, but it’s not too late. Before I explain, let me quickly contextualize a piece of this problematic pie.

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