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.
Hi Guys.
Thank you very much as always for the episode. I appreciate the work you put into every episode every week, and i am sorry,
that i can´t listenm to every episode as fast as i want to 🙁
Regarding the topics:
I played a lot of WoW (damn drug), amd since last week a loooot of MTG Arena, because the new set is out and its awesome 🙂
In addition i played some Ori and The Will of the Wisp and a lot of Last of Us 2. And of course some rounds of Jackbox Party, which was really fun!
Space Invaders:
I grew up with this, it was my first game on Atari 2600 back in the 80s 🙂
But paying so much money for a colored version … naaaarrr .. dont think so 🙂
Maybe if it will come to steam and there will be a sale 🙂
Gaming Flashback:
I never even heard of the name of the game … mhmm .. strange. But Regarding Doom: i was not able to play it back in the 90s, because the sound made me sick, i mean really sick. These bass-like sound for a longer time, made me feel like i had to puke 🙁
Shroud & Ninja & Mixer:
These guys have enough money for the rest of their lives … so .. i dont care where they will go, they will have their fans anywhere 🙂
I don´t like Mixer at all, can´t say why, but the “look and feel” is not mine. I can´t say how it was for the streamer, i am only telling my opinion as a viewer.
The only time i go on mixer, is playing JackBox party with Jonah.
SF5:
I loved to watch Street Fighter Tournaments, expecially the EVO or Capcom Cup … i don´t think that the same feelings come over with a online stream. Sadly it´s the best thing they can do right now during this situation.
And yes, SF4 was way more better than SF5 in my opinion!
Thanks again, its always fun, listening to you gus, having fun and hearing your opinion on all these topics 🙂
Stay healthy and i hope to hear from you next week.
Greetings,
Ralf