Hundreds of Apex Legends testers were laid off during an EA Zoom call

Apex Legends Season 16: Revelry celebrates the game’s fourth year. Unfortunately, game testers from EA’s Baton Rouge office are unlikely to join the celebrations after more than 200 of them were laid off today, according to a Kotaku report. According to the publication’s sources, the announcement came through a “surprise Zoom call” during which hundreds of Apex Legends game testers were unceremoniously dumped by game publisher Triple A.

Described as “unscheduled and mandatory”, it’s clear that the Zoom call came as a shock to both the game testers themselves and the company’s senior managers – the latter of whom allegedly received no notice or time to prepare for Tuesday’s mass layoffs. Adding insult to injury, Kotaku sources say that after the surprise Zoom meeting, the laid-off employees were only allowed to clear their desks and collect personal belongings under the direct supervision of EA’s security staff. EA is reportedly offering 60 days of severance, although this is allegedly much less than most employees still had on their employment contracts.