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.
Left for Dead was by far my favorite game from the 2000’s. Never gets old.
I’d have to say that Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is my favorite game from the 2000’s as it was such a beautiful game at that time and it had such charm with everything from the soundtrack to the NPC’s. It was a wonderful game.
@EA not green-lighting any single player games: In my opinion, I would rather have a grander single-player experience rather than a tacked-on multiplayer with little substance. I like to go from one game to another, and multiplayer doesn’t do much for me if it isn’t the main focus of the game (ex. Team Fortress 2).
@Wii U: I am quite excited for this and I will definitely be saving up the money to buy the Premium Edition and a ton of games next summer. Also I really love the fact that it will not only have an HDMI cable included, but also a charger for the Gamepad. That way I won’t have to buy any additional items or accessories which would all add up to a higher price than what is shown on the box.
The 32GB of storage doesn’t bother me because I barely buy anything digitally so I don’t really need the space.
List of games that I would like to play on the Wii U:
-Bayonetta 2
-Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
-Game & Wario
-New Super Mario Bros. U
-Pikmin 3
-Rayman Legends
-ZombiU
-BIT.TRIP Presents Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
-Trine 2: Director’s Cut