Following reports earlier today from Game Informer that EA Partners had been closed, along with several other divisions, EA has issued this statement on their website regarding the layoffs:
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.
The extent of these “changes” remains unknown, but Gamasutra is reporting that 10% of the workforce was laid off, with Polygon adding that the number of people let go is in the hundreds. Since EA reportedly has about 9,000 employees, if these reports are true, it could mean 900 people were let go.
Palle Hoffstein, an ex-Associate Producer at EA, claimed that two studios have been closed in Canada. He tweeted that there’s “more bad news for Canada’s gaming biz as EA closes it’s Popcap [Vancouver] and Quicklime studios. Bunch of my friends [laid] off.” This is unconfirmed at the moment, so we’ll likely have to until May 7th, the day of EA’s earnings call for the latest fiscal year, to find out if it’s true.
What do you think of these layoffs? Let us know in the comments below.
