Electronic Arts is planning to lay off 1,000 employees, approximately 10% of their employees. In this layoff their also consolidating EA Black Box back into EA Canada. EA Black Box was spun off as a studio outside of EA Canada to work on such titles as Need for Speed but, with the layoffs arriving, they’re going to be merging the remainder of EA Black Box into EA Canada by June 2009. The remaining EA Black Box employees will continue working on Skate 2.
The pink slips should be issued by March 31, 2009 and we’re hoping the folks that have lost their jobs will find new jobs as soon as possible. An Electronic Arts representative said:
“This does not mean that the Black Box studio is closing. The studio is moving to our Burnaby campus to share the facility with EAC and other EA teams that operate out of our state-of-the-art facility. We will operate two distinct studios, each with their own distinct culture and teams, out of our Burnaby facility.” (gamespot)
EA hasn’t mentioned any specific franchise cancellation but we’re going to assume something is going to slip, it’s hard to imagine a company can lose 1,000 employees without impacting business operations. If EA was able to layoff 1,000 people without impacting day-to-day business, then they’re definitely hurting in the management department because that would be a ton of waste.
Big companies may cut costs during hard times but they said they’re, “implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.”
We’re curious just how much EA is willing to risk on “creative” endevours considering publishers are already hesitant to break new ground. The next few years should yield great opportunities for smaller developers to put on their creative hat and open new doors and opportunities for themselves.
First I’d like to offer sincere condolences on the passing of Andrew, that was very sad to hear, just proof that life is very short.
@LoL; I read this story as well before it was on here and I couldn’t fathom why or how any LGBT would have any kind of advantage. More over how anyone would know or why they would even care? The whole story is completely baffling.
As for any slight advantage due to genders, there was a Mythbusters episode where they tested gender biases; like “throwing like a girl”. First they had untrained kids pitch balls, they had a pattern of boys throwing harder/faster and girls being more accurate. Then when they brought in the professional players they found the differences very negligible. With training and practice any weakness or disadvantage can be overcome.
@Nintendo lower prices: Yes please, I’m all for cheaper games. Also being able to get the back log on DS that was on Wii!
@EA games too hard to learn: I agree Jonah read the manual, read forums, wiki guides, etc. There’s a ton of resources, I have several GoG and Steam games that actually do have their manuals. As for EA games I have never found them hard to learn, their games seemed to have been focusing on being as streamlined as possible.
I also find it very odd if as Jonah says that Grim Fandango isn’t that much different, aside from the sound cues, that it doesn’t work for Paul. There has got to be a way to get that game to work.
@QotW: The list is so long I’ll start with a yes there are games I get emotional with. When ever I hear the sad songs from Final Fantasy 4, 6, or 7; the music of Suikoden I and II. They bring back so many fond memories.
My condolences to family and friends of Andrew Yoon. It is a terrible misfortune to die so young. Especially following completion of a project. He sounded like a real fun guy.
@Too much kohones
I will now clean my eyes and read that again. Nope. It’s still there. What part of human logic created that idea. It’s f**king LoL, not Olympics. If they are so afraid of superior mouse clicking ability, they should also ban Michael J Fox (Parkinson’s). To be honest I was always against e-sports. We are starting to forget that video games are primarily a source of fun, not funding. But some people take it too seriously, resulting in those exiting propositions. If we could instead concentrate on banning antisocial twats from the gaming industry that would be better. Oh no wait. Then there would be no one to run the tournaments…
@Ninendo’s peasant strategy
As much as I love Nintendo games, I hate paying for them. As opposed to Xbox/PS titles which gradually fall in price, good Nintendo games stay at release price for years in UK. I am yet to find a copy of Lego City Undercover that won’t bankrupt me. However, when they re-released the Metroid Prime Trilogy for cheap, I snapped it up without a second thought. I would gladly pay for cheaper Nintendo software.
@QOTW
Mirror’s Edge Still Alive ending. Beautiful.