http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/09/report-ea-lays-off-staff-at-four-major-divisions/

We know at least four portions of EA that probably aren't thrilled about the Playfish acquisition. Gamasutra reports that significant layoffs have taken place at EA's Tiburon, Redwood Shores, Black Box, and Mythic divisions. Gamasutra suggests that the layoffs exceed the scope of EA's normal annual layoffs. We're attempting to verify the actual percentages with EA.

According to a tweet by Katherine Pitta, "Mythic Entertainment, responsible for Warhammer Online, just laid off 80 people, about 40% of it's employees." Former EA employee Eron Garcia estimated "HUGE chunks of EA" have been let go. Mythic has been subject to layoffs in the past, as has Need for Speed and Skate developer Black Box, which already had its studio closed last year as part of another widespread round of layoffs. Best of luck to everyone affected by the layoffs!

[Update: Approximately 1,500 people have been or will be laid off as a result of this year's cuts, EA reports in its earnings statement. Last year's "major" restructuring resulted in the loss of about 1,000 jobs.]

Hope no one from the EA MMA team was cut. Best of luck to everyone affected.

See this is why I go to Kotaku for my gaming news.. l0l..

1,500 people total
1,300 of them were part of the ongoing restructuring that started last year and is planned to continue to next year (IMO that basically means that they were well aware that there .

As far as the other 200 people, my guess is they were just essentially duplicate positions that there is no longer a need for. By that I mean that as technology advances it takes less time for a person to do certain tasks, as well as the fact that as technology advances somebody who used to focus on just one area is now able to focus on two areas without loosing and productivity.

Plus everybody needs to remember that with the way this industry works the people who were cut won't be without work for long. Between other gaming companies, graphical design companies, 3d animation companies, software coding companies, etc... There is tons of work out there for the people that lost their jobs. Lets just use a 3D animator as an example. They have the game industry, they have the TV graphic industry, they have doing work for websites, they have the movie industry that they can get into doing the same basic job.

MAIN.Fisha694 wrote:See this is why I go to Kotaku for my gaming news.. l0l..

1,500 people total
1,300 of them were part of the ongoing restructuring that started last year and is planned to continue to next year (IMO that basically means that they were well aware that there .

As far as the other 200 people, my guess is they were just essentially duplicate positions that there is no longer a need for. By that I mean that as technology advances it takes less time for a person to do certain tasks, as well as the fact that as technology advances somebody who used to focus on just one area is now able to focus on two areas without loosing and productivity.

Plus everybody needs to remember that with the way this industry works the people who were cut won't be without work for long. Between other gaming companies, graphical design companies, 3d animation companies, software coding companies, etc... There is tons of work out there for the people that lost their jobs. Lets just use a 3D animator as an example. They have the game industry, they have the TV graphic industry, they have doing work for websites, they have the movie industry that they can get into doing the same basic job.

Yeah, i posted this tho right after it came out so not much news about it was out yet. Either way it still sucks that people are losing their jobs. EA is actually a really fun company to work for. I did for about 3 years. Anyways I wish the best of luck to everyone affected.