Jedi: Survivor picks up five years after the events of the previous game, with Cal continuing his fight against the Empire. This time around, you have five lightsaber stances to make use of, while the maps are larger than in Jedi: Fallen Order (at least the sequel includes fast travel). While Jedi: Survivor was generally well-reviewed, the PC port had notoriously poor performance out of the gate — an issue that developer Respawn Entertainment has tried to remedy through updates.

A third game is in the works, but there will be a different figure in charge. Stig Asmussen, the director of the first two entries, left EA to set up his own studio.

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EA confirmed the changes to Engadget via email and noted that the prices are increasing in every country the company does business in. According to a report by Gamesindustry.biz, the new cost structure was decided on to “bring fees in line with market value.” The price increase is live for new members but pre-existing subscribers won't get dinged until May 10.

For the uninitiated, EA Play is a subscription service that gives players access to a select number of games from the company, along with additional incentives like discounts and DLC. It’s available on Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles and PC. The service is in line with Microsoft Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Ubisoft+, among others. As previously mentioned, EA Play Pro takes things a step further by letting subscribers play newly-released games. It's worth noting that Game Pass Ultimate members still have access to the standard EA Play tier as part of their subscription.

It’s always a bummer when these subscriptions go up in price, and EA is hardly alone here. Sony raised the price of PS Plus last year and Microsoft did the same for Game Pass subscriptions. Ubisoft+ Premium is likely the closest analog to Play Pro and it costs $18 per month, which is right in line with EA’s updated pricing model.

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The game’s patch notes say PS5 and Xbox Series X/S users can expect a “completely reworked” performance mode for a “substantially” improved experience. The changelog says patch seven disables Ray Tracing in performance mode while providing several GPU / CPU optimizations to achieve that “solid” 60 fps. The developers have also improved quality mode (which prioritizes graphical fidelity over a consistent frame rate) with “optimizations” to help reduce frame-rate fluctuations and improve visuals.

Although patch seven’s highlights are for console users, PC owners aren’t left in the dark. Respawn has added support for Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) for the game’s Windows version. Additionally, PC owners should see “additional performance & optimization improvements.”

The PS5 version of Jedi Survivor also gets variable refresh rate support for the first time. The feature, which Sony added to its latest console in April, dynamically matches a TV or monitor’s refresh rate to that of the PS5, lessening visual artifacts like screen tearing. Sony says it can help render scenes faster and reduce input lag.

Rounding up the patch’s notables are tweaks to fix corrupted save-game files and an issue where players couldn’t collect XP after dying “under certain circumstances.” Respawn also promises various crash / bug fixes and miscellaneous improvements on all platforms.

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows. PS4 and Xbox One ports are in development, although they don’t yet have a release date.

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It’s still possible to play some of the games through EA Play, the publisher’s subscription service. You’ll still be able to find physical copies of the delisted games on consoles if you really want them and, if you’ve already purchased a FIFA game on a digital storefront, you’ll still be able to download it again.

But you’re out of luck if you hadn’t yet snapped up FIFA 23 or one of the earlier games on the likes of Steam. “At the request of the publisher, EA Sports FIFA 23 is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search,” a notice on that game’s Steam page states.

It’s not yet clear exactly why EA has removed all these games from sale. Engadget has contacted the publisher for clarification. However, it seems likely that a licensing issue is at play.

Last year, EA and FIFA ended their long-running licensing partnership for the classic series of soccer sims. EA has rebranded the franchise as EA Sports FC. It will officially release the first entry on September 29, though the game has been in early access since last week.

The FIFA name will still appear on other games in the future, just (in all likelihood) not ones made by EA. “I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last year, presumably with a straight face.

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As its description suggests, matches will be simulated, so you won’t directly control players’ actions like in traditional sports games. Instead, it focuses on in-game strategies like player stamina and power-play management. Playable modes include online-friendly matches and “intense online competitions” like Rank matches, Leagues, and Guilds. It sounds like a sports game for those who want 100 percent strategy and little or no player-controlled action.

Promotional screenshots show a one-on-one battle with assigned numerical skills for each player. They’re broken down into categories like dribbling, one-two, passing and shooting. The pictured player appears to have “skill move” power-up cards like combative chase shot, wild tap dribble and floating instep shot. It sounds like EA took core gameplay elements familiar from titles like Teamfight Tactics (and many others) and slapped a soccer skin onto it to attract fans of both genres.

The game will have over 5,000 licensed players from “more than 10 top leagues,” including the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Serie A. You can train players to upgrade their moves, unlock new traits as you progress and customize cosmetics like stadium designs, uniforms and balls.

“EA Sports FC Tactical embraces strategic gameplay to create an all-new football experience that immerses players in the World’s Game like never before,” said EA Sports senior vice president Nick Wlodyka. The game is available for pre-registration on the App Store and Google Play ahead of an expected January 18, 2024 launch.

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The profile with the highest account level will be designated as your primary account. You'll maintain that level, and (with some exceptions) all of the cosmetics, achievements and badges from other profiles that are linked to the same EA ID will be merged into the master account. An EA ID is required to play Apex on any platform.

Account merging for cross-progression is mandatory, Respawn said, but it means that those who play the battle royale across multiple platforms will, for the most part, have access to their cosmetic items and currencies no matter where they happen to be playing at a given time. You'll also make progress on the same battle pass whether you're playing on PC, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch. Respawn noted that nothing will change for folks who only play on one platform with a single profile. However, you'll only retain your stats from your primary account.

Cross-progression has been a long time coming. Respawn has been chipping away at the feature since at least 2020, the same year the studio enabled cross-platform play. However, work on cross-progression was delayed by hacks that impacted Apex and both Titanfall games.

Account merging is arriving alongside an intriguing new playable character. Her name is Conduit and she's a support who is focused on shields. With her tactical ability, Radiant Transfer, she can supply nearby teammates with extra temporary shields. If her chums are out of range of her tactical, she can get a burst of speed as she races toward them, thanks to her passive ability. Conduit's ultimate is called Energy Barricade. She'll deploy a row of seven shield jammers that will slow and damage enemies.

Conduit is said to be a superfan of the Apex Games — for one of her finishers, she takes a selfie of her and her enemy before delivering a fatal punch. The support has ties to the Titanfall games as well. She carries a battery from a titan on her back, and this powers her combat rig.

Elsewhere, Respawn has revamped the Storm Point map with six new points of interest. Respawn tweaked around 40 percent of the map to make it smaller. The aim is to push players to engage with each other more often and to deliver faster-paced action.

Meanwhile, there's more good news for some players thanks to big changes to Ranked play. There will no longer be any restrictions on grouping up as a trio, so Bronze and Silver players will be able to play the competitive mode with buddies who are at higher ranks and vice versa.

It seems that Respawn has a plan to mitigate account boosting, whereby more skilled individuals help carry low-ranked players up the ladder. The studio is introducing a skill check system, called promotional (or promo) trials. Those who are on the verge of reaching the next rank will first have to complete a challenge to prove that they're good enough. For instance, they may have five attempts to win a match in order to rank up. Otherwise, they can place in the top 10 three times and get three kills or assists three times within those five matches.

If a player fails this time-limited skill check, they'll have to work their way back to the promo trial. They'll gradually get more trial matches (up to 10) to complete their objective. If they perform exceptionally poorly and reach the limit of trial games, they might be pushed far down the Ranked ladder and have to put in even more legwork to have a chance of reaching the next skill tier.

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Saber Interactive has its own parent company, Embracer Group, which has had a rough year. Embracer conducted mass layoffs back in June and canceled multiple projects. Things are so bad, as a matter of fact, that the company’s looking to sell Gearbox Software, the developer behind Borderlands.

Indie publishing stalwart Tinybuild also announced a round of layoffs, according to Game Developer. The company gives the usual reason for the layoffs, cost restructuring, though the number of impacted employees remains unknown. Some of the blame has been placed on subsidiary Versus Evil, which delayed a number of titles into 2024, thus impacting revenue. Tinybuild has published a number of notable games, like Graveyard Keeper, Party Hard, Potion Craft, Mr. Shifty and dozens more.

The EA-owned Codemasters, which is one of the world’s most renowned racing game developers, issued its own set of layoffs, as reported by IGN. Just like the aforementioned companies, EA and Codemasters are being cagey regarding the number of laid off workers. An EA spokesperson said that the layoffs are due to “small-scale organizational changes that align our teams and resources to meet evolving business needs and priorities.” Okay, cool. Thanks for that useful information. EA bought Codemasters, who are behind the racers Dirt and F1, in 2021 for a whopping $1.2 billion.

These firings are just the latest bit of bad news for the games industry. Last month, Ubisoft Montreal laid off nearly 100 people and Epic Games let go of 16 percent of its workforce in September, in addition to selling Bandcamp to a seemingly predatory music-licensing company. The first half of the year saw layoffs by CD Projekt Red, among others.

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EA’s cuts are the latest in a long line of layoffs that have rocked the video game industry since last year. In 2023, more than 10,500 video game workers lost their jobs, and more than 6,000 people in the industry were cut in January 2024 alone. The video game companies that have laid off workers so far include Microsoft, Riot Games, and Unity among many others. On Tuesday, Sony announced that it was laying off 900 people from its PlayStation division, roughly 8 percent of its headcount.

In a memo sent to EA employees, CEO Andrew Wilson wrote that the company is “streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere.” EA expects to finish making the cuts by early next quarter, the memo says. The cuts, Wilson adds, will let EA focus more on its “biggest opportunities — including our owned IP, sports, and massive online communities.”

One of the games that the move will directly impact is a Star Wars first-person shooter being worked upon by Respawn, a game development studio that EA acquired in 2017, according to IGN.“It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game,” EA Entertainment president Laura Miele reportedly told staff in a note. “Giving fans the next installments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”

Update, February 28 2024, 5:45 PM ET: This story has been updated with more details of the canceled Star Wars game.

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Three games have been confirmed for the showcase. We'll find out details about traversal and combat in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, an EA-published 2D Metroidvania game that's set to arrive next month. Abubakar Salim, who voiced Bayek in Assassin's Creed Origins, is the game's creative lead and will narrate the Partner Preview trailer.

In addition, we'll see gameplay from Capcom's strategy-action game Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and The First Berserker: Khazan, an action RPG from Nexon. Microsoft is also promising details on more titles that are bound for Xbox, PC and Game Pass. This is a common refrain every time one of these streams takes place, but since we know it's coming to Game Pass on its release day, perhaps this will finally be when we learn more about Hollow Knight: Silksong.

You'll be able to watch the stream on Xbox channels on YouTube and Twitch (YouTube streams will be available in 4K, but Twitch is limited to 1080p). Microsoft says it will make the showcase available in more than 40 languages, including American Sign Language, British Sign Language and English Audio Descriptions. For the first time, Microsoft will offer versions of an Xbox stream in Bengali, Māori, Punjabi (Gurmukhi), Swahili, Tamil, Urdu and Zulu.

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Cheating has been a continual issue for EA — and one that players claim the company is doing little to mitigate. Frustrated posts on EA's general discussion page include statements like "If EA gonna ban all the cheaters it wouldn't be enough players to play the game," and "The real issue lies in the process of banning/suspending players." Other grievances include a focus on profits over experience, such as bumping up the price of skins.

Furthermore, EA laid off five percent of its workforce — about 650 people — at the end of February. Respawn's in-progress Star Wars first-person shooter game was canceled alongside the terminations. At the time CEO Andrew Wilson told employees that EA was "streamlining our company operations to deliver deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere."

A new time for the North American Finals of Apex Legends hasn't been announced, but the X post stated that it would "share more information soon." In the meantime, EA and Respawn have to determine how to block the hacker's current access and how to reopen qualifications without risking further hacks.

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