EA CEO earned $38.6 Million amid Battlefield layoffs, granted use of company jet and could receive $125 Million in exit package

EA struck a somber tone when it announced that it had been forced to restructure its Battlefield 6 studios and lay off workers to “realign” the business. The timing, however, makes the company’s executive pay harder to ignore. According to EA’s own figures, CEO Andrew Wilson earned 305 times more than the company’s median employee in fiscal year 2026. To put it simply, he made an estimated $38.6 million.

The figure comes from EA’s newly amended annual report filed with the SEC. In the company’s own words:

“For fiscal year 2026, the annual total compensation of our median employee was $126,612, and the annual total compensation of Mr. Wilson was $38,649,984. The ratio of these amounts is 305 to 1.”

For perspective, Wilson’s compensation was nearly $8.12 million higher than the prior year. His annual base salary remained $1.3 million, while the increase reportedly came from stock awards and a $6.5 million cash bonus.

Even that $38.6 million figure may understate the full picture. Under a separate SEC metric called “Compensation Actually Paid,” which reflects changes in the value of unvested stock, Wilson’s fiscal 2026 total rises to $77,231,168.

Much of that compensation appears tied to Battlefield 6’s strong launch. EA’s filing credits the title with “achieving all milestones for a high-quality launch of Battlefield 6 with positive critical reviews and stable services and gameplay.”

The irony is that the same launch came just months before EA laid off talented staff across studios, including Criterion, DICE, Ripple Effect, and Motive. And even if future results fall short, Wilson would still be protected by a hefty severance package under a “Qualifying Termination” if he is let go after the company's control changes hands.

In that scenario, Wilson would be entitled to a $9.1 million cash severance payment, an additional bonus, and full vesting of his outstanding company stock, bringing his total termination package to a staggering $125 million.

On top of all of this, the filing also mentioned that Andrew Wilson was recently cleared to use EA’s private company jet for personal trips with a “subject to 75-hour cap” quote after a security review deemed it was safer for him to avoid commercial flights altogether.

An executive getting carte blanche with the company jet and a massive pay bump at a time when the games industry is wrestling with layoffs might sound ironic to a few, but EA's purported Saudi takeover makes it possible thanks to the large amount of money involved ($55 billion) even as it cashes in on Battlefield 6's success.