NEW YORK - Electronic Arts (EA) will let go of about 6 per cent of its workers, equal to about 800 jobs, and reduce office space as part of a restructuring plan in a challenging year for the video game industry.

EA struggled in 2022 to publish a new hit. The company is known for its annual sports franchises, including Madden NFL and Fifa, which will be renamed EA Sports FC after a licensing agreement with football’s governing body expired.

In the third quarter, EA’s net bookings fell 9.1 per cent to US$2.34 billion (S$3.11 billion) the biggest decline in two years. The video game industry experienced a contraction in 2022 based on a weak release calendar.

Game software company Unity Software, Tencent Holdings’ Riot Games and Israeli gaming company Playtika Holding all laid off employees, but EA’s cuts are the largest so far in 2023.

The company will take charges of as much as US$200 million, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. EA employed about 12,900 people globally at the end of its last fiscal year.

“As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams,” chief executive Andrew Wilson said in a memo to staff.

The cuts will take place over the next few months.

Some employees may be reassigned.

In January, the company shuttered its Pasadena, California, mobile game studio Industrial Toys, which worked on a version of shooter Battlefield.

It also ended production on the mobile version of the popular shooting game Apex Legends. The racing game Need for Speed Unbound, which launched in late 2022, received little attention.

The company’s next anticipated blockbuster is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which EA delayed until April 28. BLOOMBERG