Looks like we have more bad news for lots of people working in the video game industry today as, according to an article at Polygon, Electronic Arts has begun laying off an unspecified number of staff at EA Los Angeles and EA Montreal. The news of these layoffs is timed with a statement by EA president of labels, Frank Gibeau. The statement is very carefully-worded to make what is essentially laying off a bunch of people sound like a great part of their “console transition” with yesterday’s PlayStation 4 announcement. Gibeau does mention that those laid off will be given severance packages – so, hopefully that will help them get to their next career destination. We wish all those affected the best of luck.
EA responded to requests for comment with this statement:
“Today EA internally announced some adjustments to select development teams to align staff and skills against priority growth areas, including new technologies and mobile. Many employees are being retrained for new positions; however a small number will be released. These are great, talented people and we wish them well. EA is growing globally, and we expect our headcount to increase this year.
EA Montreal is a key development studio where our long-term plan is to sharpen our teams’ focus on console and mobile games.”
