With next gen consoles in development, EA makes cuts at multiple studios.
Electronic Arts is a massive company with approximately 4,000 employees around the globe. The game company recently laid off an undisclosed number of developers, including many in Montreal and Los Angeles. Frank Gibeau, president of EA Labels, put a positive spin on the downsizing in his blog. Montreal's Visceral Studio developed Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel.
“This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations,” wrote Gibeau. “These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job.
He also wrote about the PlayStation 4 and other next gen consoles.
“We’ve been investing and innovating on new technology for months,” said Gibeau. “Console partners who have seen our early work agree, EA’s next-gen software is nothing short of astonishing. At a GameStop company meeting earlier this week, we gave 500 store managers a sneak peak at Battlefield 4. Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives.”
With the new consoles expected to launch this fall, Gibeau wrote: “Console transitions are a complex and challenging experience. I’ve helped navigate several and agree with an old saying we have at EA: Transition is our friend. All the trend lines are converging to reward the creative and financial investments we have made in mobile and console technology. We have never been more ready or more excited about what comes next.”
