Full Circle lays off staff ahead of skate. rollout, citing restructure

Full Circle, the Burnaby, British Columbia studio owned by Electronic Arts, disclosed a round of layoffs as it restructures ahead of the wider rollout for skate., its free-to-play live-service reboot. The studio told players it was “reshaping Full Circle to better support skate.’s long-term future” and warned that “some roles will be impacted,” while offering thanks and pledged support to departing colleagues.

Full Circle launched skate. into Early Access on September 15, 2025 and in November said “tens of millions” of players had tried the game during that period. The company reiterated in its staff message that it is “transforming as a studio” to “focus the team on the things that matter most” for the title’s long-term operation. The public statement did not specify how many jobs were cut, and the studio did not provide a confirmed headcount in the text released with the announcement.

Developers across multiple disciplines posted their departures on LinkedIn, naming affected staff including Senior World Builder Lilian Chow, Associate World Director Jeremy Miller, World Designer Ian Melinn, Senior VFX Artist Paul M, Senior Technical Artist Ross Krothe, Senior Procedural Technical Artist Gabriel Rheault, Technical Cinematic Designer Mathieu Fallows, UI Technical Designer Jason Swan, and Outsourcing Development Director Jimmy Corvan, among others. Full Circle praised those workers as “talented colleagues and friends who helped build the foundation of skate,” and said the decision “is not a reflection of their impact and we’re committed to supporting them through this transition.”

External player metrics paint a mixed picture of skate.’s early performance. SteamDB, which tracks PC players, showed a sharp decline from peaks at launch to a 24-hour player count in the low thousands at the time of reporting; a snapshot cited a 24-hour peak of roughly 2,300 versus more than 130,000 players at release on PC. SteamDB does not capture console activity, and Full Circle’s “tens of millions” figure covers cross-platform engagement, the studio said in November.

The studio’s pivot from the franchise’s previous paid model to a free-to-play, microtransaction-supported live-service model provoked pushback from some long-time fans. Full Circle addressed that criticism directly in its staff message, saying: “We want to build this game to last, and it means we will need to make changes as we go sometimes… This change was made to ensure this game sticks around for the long haul.” The company added: “We look forward to working with you as we move faster, listen more closely, and deliver consistently for all of you.”

The layoffs at Full Circle underscore broader pressures on big-budget game development where live-service expectations and player retention metrics increasingly determine resource allocation. For Electronic Arts, the restructure raises questions about how the publisher will balance investment in ongoing content with cost control ahead of a full release. Key unanswered items include the exact number of roles eliminated, the offices and teams most affected, the specifics of any severance or transition support, and consolidated player telemetry across PC and consoles to validate the studio’s engagement claims.

As Full Circle prepares for skate.’s wider rollout, its next moves on monetisation, content cadence, and transparency about employee impacts will be watched closely by players and industry observers alike.