It’s a very normal day. Nothing is amiss. But just for fun, let’s have a gander at the most recent available information on how much EA execs, like CEO Andrew Wilson, are making.
Now admittedly, these numbers come from EA’s 2024 proxy statement, the 2025 version of which is just around the corner, so they might be a little out of date. Still, I think they’re useful a) as a point of comparison to workers in less vaunted positions and b) because they’re from a time period during which EA cut five percent of its global workforce – the sort of ripcord a major video game publisher would obviously never pull again, but to liven up an otherwise dull day, why don’t we consider how such a thing does or does not impact executive compensation.
During fiscal 2024, Wilson took home over $25.6 million via a mixture of a $1.3 million base salary, $20.4 million in stock awards, $3.44 million from a non-equity incentive plan, and around $500,000 in personal security benefits. In the same proxy statement, EA said that the annual total compensation of its median employee was $148,704. If you crunch the numbers as Game Developer did, you’ll find that Wilson made 172 times more than the median EA worker.
If you’re wondering how Wilson fared in years where EA didn’t lay off five percent of its workforce, well, those were some real belt-tightening times for the company’s head honcho, who pulled in only $20.6 million in fiscal 2023 and $19.8 million in fiscal 2022, down from $39 million the year prior, an “exorbitant” level of executive pay that shareholders ultimately voted to rein in.
Here’s what other EA executives made during fiscal 2024:
Now, as a thought experiment, let’s say that 300-400 workers had just gotten laid off as a result of poor sales of games like EA Sports FC 25, as well as longstanding mismanagement of beloved series like Dragon Age and, repeatedly, Titanfall. Wouldn’t you think one or even a few of these people could stand to take a pay cut in order to prevent such an outcome? Wilson alone, as we’ve learned, is equivalent to 172 employees if we’re measuring in pure dollars, and I’m sure he’s got plenty in the bank.
Fortunately, this is all hypothetical, and there’s no need to feel any wholly justified, blood vessel-bursting rage about any of it. We are, after all, in the midst of yet another normal spring day. Nothing to see here.
