Electronic Arts has announced that some organizational restructuring “has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations.”
Polygon – claiming two anonymous sources with “knowledge of the situation” – is reporting that the number of layoffs from EA’s continuing reorganization is now in the hundreds, with people being affected across nearly all parts of the company; some areas are losing a half dozen people, others are losing dozens. Previous rumors of EA layoffs affecting thousands of employees have been reportedly overstated.
EA employees from studios PopCap Vancouver and Quicklime have taken to Twitter and announced that both their studios have been shut down.
Today’s reorganization, according to those same Polygon sources, is partly tied to the closure of EA Partners reported earlier today by Game Informer. EA’s continuing plan to slim down for new management has already included a series of layoffs this year affecting its Montreal mobile studio, customer support in Ireland, EA’s Hyderabad mobile studio, and Playfish.
Kotaku has acquired the memo (below) issued to employees during the layoffs today from acting CEO Larry Probst.
FROM LARRY PROBST
As we begin the new fiscal year, I want to provide you with a brief update on some important changes to our organization. As Executive Chairman, my focus is to ensure EA is delivering high quality games and services to our consumers, while helping the executive team develop a FY14 operating plan that drives growth, rationalizes headcount and controls costs.
In recent weeks, the executive team has been tasked with evaluating every area of our business to establish a clear set of priorities, and a more efficient organizational structure. This process has led to some difficult decisions about the number of people and locations needed to achieve our goals.
The workforce reductions which we communicated in the last two weeks represent the majority of our planned personnel actions. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of these individuals – they will be missed by their colleagues and friends at EA.
We are also taking action to streamline our organization, including changes in two key areas:
· Core marketing functions have been consolidated under our COO, Peter Moore. The combined group will bring together our Label marketing teams, Global Acquisition Marketing and Marketing Analytics into one multi-talented team under Todd Sitrin’s leadership. The development and marketing teams will continue to work as cohesive units, driving clear and consistent messaging and consumer engagement for each of our franchises.
· Origin will move into Frank Gibeau’s Labels organization. Andrew Wilson will take on the leadership of Origin, working with CJ Prober and the team to create more value and an enhanced entertainment experience for our consumers.
Change is sometimes difficult, but essential. The adjustments we are making will put us in the best position to build great games and services, deliver them more efficiently to consumers, and demonstrate to players around the world why they should spend their time with us.
EA is a great company, with talented and hard-working teams, a strong portfolio of products and an extremely bright future.
Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to our long term success!
(via Polygon)