EA subsidiary Full Circle, developer of the live-service Skate game, announced layoffs on February 25, 2026, as part of a restructuring at its Burnaby headquarters to support the title's long-term development. The cuts affect an unspecified number of staff who contributed to its Early Access launch last September, amid ongoing industry-wide reductions.
Full Circle, founded in 2021, issued a statement titled “skate.’s Next Chapter,” describing the layoffs as part of "transforming as a studio" and "reshaping" its team. It thanked those impacted as "talented colleagues and friends who helped build the foundation of skate.," noting their "creativity and dedication" and committing to support them in transition. The studio reaffirmed its focus: "Our work on skate. continues. We look forward to working with you as we move faster, listen more closely, and deliver consistently."
Skate., often called Skate 4 by fans, launched in Early Access on September 2025 as a free-to-play, online-only live-service game with sandbox multiplayer in San Vansterdam, attracting tens of millions of players. It marked a revival of the Skate series—originally released in the late 2000s for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—which was praised for realistic mechanics over rivals like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, winning "Sports Game of the Year" for the first entry and achieving commercial success before going on hiatus. Reception to the reboot has been mixed, with praise for its model but criticism of microtransactions (e.g., $25 clothing items), mandatory online play, homogenized designs, and player retention struggles post-initial SteamDB peaks. Season 3 launches March 10, 2026; no final release date is set.
The layoffs follow EA's 2024 workforce cut of about 5%, recent cuts at Ubisoft Toronto (40 employees) and Riot Games, amid EA's $55 billion Saudi-backed acquisition—though not directly linked here.
