Andrew Wilson’s FY2026 pay package hit $38,649,984, according to EA’s latest Form 10-K filing. That breaks down to:
- $28.48 million in stock awards
- $6.5 million cash bonus
- $2.37 million in perks including private jet usage and personal security
- $1.3 million base salary
The total represents an $8.1 million raise — roughly 27% — over the prior year’s $30.5 million. That same fiscal year, Battlefield 6 sold over 20 million copies by December 2025, outsold Call of Duty for the first time in franchise history, and became the top-selling game in the U.S. in 2025, per analyst Rhys Elliott cited by GamesRadar. Then EA laid off developers across every Battlefield studio.
The Record That Didn’t Save Anyone’s Job
The numbers are clean; what they reveal about the industry’s reward structure is anything but.
- EA posted $7.531 billion in net revenue, up 9% year-over-year — what Wilson publicly called “a record year,” crediting “the incredibly successful launch of our iconic Battlefield franchise”
- His bonus was explicitly tied to Battlefield 6 “meeting all key milestones,” per the 10-K
- President Laura Miele earned $13.7 million; CFO Stuart Canfield pulled $11.3 million
- In March, EA cut an unspecified number of staff across DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive — every major Battlefield studio
- EA’s official statement to IGN: cuts were made “to better align our teams around what matters most to our community”
Reports suggest Battlefield 6 significantly overshot its development budget, and concurrent players reportedly dropped sharply after launch. EA has acknowledged neither publicly. The official line stays locked on “realignment” and “strategic focus” — corporate language so polished it practically arrives in its own branded packaging.
What This Pattern Actually Looks Like
EA’s executive pay structure isn’t an anomaly; it’s a recurring feature of how AAA publishers distribute success.
Although shareholder backlash around FY2022 temporarily halved Wilson’s package to roughly $20 million, compensation has since climbed quietly back to record levels. In a prior fiscal year, Wilson earned approximately $30.5 million while EA’s median worker salary fell over 20%, per reporting from Respawn/Outlook India. According to Game Developer’s compensation analysis, Wilson’s pay sits at roughly 260 times the median EA employee’s earnings. The executives who greenlit the project capture the upside. The developers who shipped it do not.
This is the “success without security” model in full operation — and EA didn’t invent it. Mass layoffs following blockbuster releases have become a defining feature of AAA publishing across the video games industry.
What Happens to the Next Battlefield
Losing the people who built Battlefield 6 creates a franchise continuity problem that no 10-K milestone can measure.
EA flagged AI adoption as a core strategic priority in the same filing that justified those executive bonuses — suggesting “realignment” may ultimately mean fewer humans, not simply different ones. Institutional knowledge doesn’t transfer via offboarding email. Veterans who navigated a complex, reportedly over-budget production carry expertise that shapes whether future entries ship well or stumble publicly.
If you’re counting on Battlefield’s live-service content pipeline to hold steady, it’s worth asking: are the people who built it still there to run it?
