It hasn't been a great fiscal year for publisher Electronic Arts, with a recent study revealing that CEO Andrew Wilson was among the top 100 most overpaid CEOs of 2019. Yet it seems the poor results for Fiscal Year 2019, which ended on March 31st, has led the CEO and several executives to request to forgo their performance bonuses, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on June 21st.

Moreover, the money that these higher-ups have chosen to forgo will be put into a separate pool, consisting of $4.8 million, to be paid out to EA employees instead. These executives include CEO Andrew Wilson, CFO Blake Jorgensen, CTO Kenneth Moss, chief marketing officer Chris Bruzzo, chief studios officer Laura Miele, and, interestingly enough, former chief designer officer and DICE CEO Patrick Soderlund.

Soderlund left in August 2018 after spending 12 years rising through the ranks of EA, and, reportedly, EA offered Soderlund a $20 million stock grant to stay, which wasn't accepted. This money went toward hiring new employees instead. And while general sentiment toward EA has always been a mixed bag, many will likely be glad to hear that EA is taking steps to keep higher-ups responsible and reward the average employee.

Of course, if Fiscal Year 2020 improves for the company, it seems likely that things will revert back to the norm. It remains to be seen how the next fiscal year will go, but considering Battlefield 5 failed to meet expectations, Anthem has been a major point of contention, and even Apex Legends quickly rose and fell for the publisher, all in Fiscal Year 2019, it's hard to see how things could be much worse. Additionally, EA has a lot going for it in FY 2020.

As examples, CEO Andrew Wilson still believes that Anthem will become something great, and Apex Legends season 2 is set to start soon, promising to undo, or forgo, some of the things that made season 1 seem lackluster to many. Battlefield 5 is also going to continue to get support, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is set to release this fall. All of this suggests that EA is looking to make a major comeback over its FY 2019 performance.

Source: EA Securities and Exchange Commission filing (via GamingBolt)