The layoffs continue to roll in for the massive video game publisher EA.
CEO John Riccitiello stepped down
following a disappointing annual financial report,
studios have already been hit with other layoffs
, and just yesterday it was learned that
it was closing its EA Partners label
. Today comes an official announcement that EA has been hit will huge layoffs across the board.
“In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends.”
“These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.”
Most estimates are putting the cuts at roughly 10 percent of the company’s workforce, making that a possibility of 800-900 people of EA’s estimated 9000 member pool. EA declined to comment on exact numbers.
Its fiscal results will be announced on May 7th, so we will get a bigger picture of what is happening within the company then.
Throughout the year, THQ was shuttered and auctioned off into tiny pieces, Japanese giants Capcom and Square Enix posted disappointing figures, and even Nintendo reported coming up short on their forecasts. In a world where indie-games are thriving, personal projects are reaching millions, and digital distribution is becoming king, maybe EA is reacting to match the “smaller is better” motif before they collapse in on themselves.
Best of wishes to all those who lost their jobs. With roughly 800-900 people though and some obviously talented developers, there could be a lot of indie successes just waiting to burst from all this mess. Why not get together and throw some ideas around. You are free from the clutches of AAA gaming.
