Electronic Arts has made layoffs in its customer support centre in Austin, Texas.

That's according to Kotaku, which has seen internal emails and spoken to a source saying that up to 100 members of staff could be impacted by this move. The employees in question were supporting FIFA 22's live operations. Staff at EA's Galway, Ireland office could also be affected.

This comes in the wake of EA cutting ties with FIFA for its football franchise, which is being rebranded to EA Sports FC due to the sports organisation asking for much larger sums of money for the license. Electronic Arts has said that this isn't tied to these jobs being cut.

“The changes in our customer support function are not tied to any one gaming franchise, nor are they connected to our EA Sports FC announcement last week,” an EA spokesperson said.

“The customer support function support a wide range of player questions pertaining to our gaming titles, technology, including Origin or our EA Play subscription service.”

Pressed for an explanation for why these jobs have been cut, EA spokesperson Charlie Fortescue added: "We’re always thinking about how we improve our player experience, and this includes reviewing how we can best provide the support they may need to enjoy them fully. With this in mind we have proposed some changes in our customer support function to give more flexibility and allow us to help players when they need it most. As part of this process we are considering changing a number of roles within the team, closing some roles and also creating new ones. We are working closely with our people throughout this process and are providing support to anyone whose role is impacted."

Disclaimer: Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist and writer who has worked with EA on projects in the past.