Last week, Microsoft announced sweeping layoffs and restructuring efforts, much of which targeted the tech giant’s Xbox division. Multiple games were canceled and projects defunded, and thousands of workers were let go. This move induced widespread condemnation and an outpouring of sadness from the industry, including from EA Japan’s general manager, Shaun Noguchi.
Noguchi, writing in his personal capacity, posted on X about how disappointed he was to see more waves of layoffs and cancellations. He wrote (in Japanese and translated by IGN) about how the trend in Western companies to chase short-term profits and reduce long-term payoffs or stability has led to damaging the game industry as a whole. “The game industry is held up by every single creator and member of staff who diligently develops games on the ground,” he wrote. “As someone in the same industry, I feel deep pain regarding this decision.”
He later reiterated (in English) that Microsoft’s decision to kill off projects that had been in the works for many years was deeply regrettable. Although companies justify canceling projects to cut losses and avoid the sunk-cost fallacy, Noguchi expressed specific concern for the staff who would have nothing public to show for their work. “This is just my personal opinion but if a game was in development for 7~10 years, canceling feels like the worst move. That’s a decade of work, potentially a quarter of someones [sic] entire career completly [sic] lost,” he argued. “Even if the final product isn’t what people originally expected, I think it still deserves to ship. Something is better than nothing for both the team and for the players.”
Noguchi’s comments may be informed by Japan’s culture and legal regime that both emphasize corporate continuity and enforce strong protections for workers. Japanese developers have seemingly undergone much fewer contractions than Western developers in recent years, and it’s not at all uncommon for Japanese workers to stick with one employer for their entire career.
Noguchi’s employer, as a United States-based corporation, has been a high-profile participant in laying off staff and canceling games over the past few years. At the end of May, EA canceled its Black Panther game and laid off staff; this followed EA’s reported cancellation of a Titanfall game and laying off of 300 people back in April.
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