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EA suffers additional layoffs

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, Mobile, Miscellaneous

Citing a reorganization to focus on new technologies and mobile development, EA announced that it has let another round of its employees go. No firm numbers or estimates on how many were fired have been officially released, however.

The publisher released the following statement on its blog:

In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees - those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends.

These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.

A Gamasutra source said that the EA Partners publishing label has been abolished in the reorganization, although the games it was handling are still in the works.

EA suffers additional layoffs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMO devs most in danger of layoffs, study claims

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, Mobile, Consoles, Miscellaneous

In an attempt to answer the question of whether the games industry is dying or not, Twisted Pixel Lead Developer Dan Teasdale conducted research into all of the layoffs of 2012 and believes he has found that, among other things, MMO developers had the highest risk of being fired.

"Looking at the the raw number of people affected, MMO teams laid off more developers than console teams," Teasdale argues. He notes that 38% of video game industry layoffs hit MMO studios, although only 26% of MMO studios did any firing. Layoffs in Boston and Austin, including the closure of 38 Studios, accounted for a third of all industry layoffs, which could look good or bad depending on the total number of studios in those two cities relative to the rest of the industry (info hard to come by and not included in the study).

One upshot of the report was that MMO studios tended to lay off fewer people when firings happened in comparison to social, mobile, and console studios. "While this probably isn't a surprise, it's a clear indication that it's way harder to survive as a social or MMO developer than a console developer," he concludes. However, the analysis does not break down the types of employees laid off, such as designers vs. support, community, and temporary contractors, roles common in the MMO industry.

Continue reading MMO devs most in danger of layoffs, study claims

MMO devs most in danger of layoffs, study claims originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom layoffs confirmed as temporary [Updated]

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, MMO Industry, The Secret World, Legal

Apparently having suffered a mediocre launch with The Secret World and a severe dip in its stock value, Funcom has announced temporary layoffs to its staff. The layoffs are part of a company-wide cost-cutting strategy in response to TSW's failure to hit expected sales scenarios, which Funcom predicted in a press release earlier this month. The layoffs appear to confirm parts of the anonymous tip we referenced in our Secret World column last Thursday.

Funcom Director of Communications Erling Ellingsen confirmed the layoffs to Gamer.no, stating that operations on Funcom's three MMOs will continue and that The Secret World's revenue model will continue as planned.

Unconfirmed reports put the layoffs at 50% to 60% of the studio's workforce. "We're in the middle of the process and we can not go into more detail now," Ellingsen said. On its Twitter feed, Funcom posted the following: "Thank you for your warm thoughts and support. More information to come soon."

[Update: Funcom has made a new statement to Massively in light of the layoffs, stressing that the layoffs are temporary. "As we announced in the stock notice that went out on August 10th, Funcom is in the process of reducing operational costs and this process includes temporary layoffs as well as other initiatives. As we are currently in the middle of this process we can not provide any further comment at the present time. Rest assured however that we have long-term plans for the company and that we remain fully committed to all of our games. We aim to provide more information soon."]

Funcom layoffs confirmed as temporary [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioWare responds to SWTOR layoffs

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, Star Wars: The Old Republic

If anyone knows just how brutal and unforgiving the MMO industry can be, it is certainly the folks at BioWare. Last week delivered a one-two punch to the studio, as the team had to contend with layoffs while breaking the news of server merges to the playerbase. Star Wars: The Old Republic Associate Lead Designer Emmanuel Lusinchi admitted that this came with the territory: "The MMO is the toughest part of the game industry without a doubt, and we live in tough economic times in general."

Despite the layoffs, Lusinchi said that the development team is still "one of the biggest" in the industry and has detailed plans for SWTOR's future. Still, that didn't make dealing with the realities of the job cuts any easier.

"On a personal level it's quite difficult to have people that you've been working with for a long time that you know personally, you go to their barbecue and you meet their families and it's never easy," he said. "I doubt it'd be easy in any industry for anyone, but it happens."

BioWare responds to SWTOR layoffs originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 29 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, Legal, Miscellaneous

It's been a couple of years since Mark Jacobs abruptly left -- or perhaps was let go -- from EA Mythic, but curiosity around the split persists in the MMO industry. Yesterday, Jacobs opened up about the event that occurred after EA's acquisition of Mythic and BioWare.

Long story short: The merge brought about changes, and Jacobs wasn't on board with them. "They made a decision on a direction they wanted to go and obviously, as we put out in our joint statement, that wasn't a direction that had a role for me, or at least the role that I wanted. It really is as simple as that. Or at least publicly. Whatever went on behind the scenes, whatever we talked about, I have no intention of sharing that," he said.

Jacobs insists that EA has been kind to him in the subsequent years. "One thing I'll say publicly about EA, they have been very good in what they've said post-departure regarding me. Similarly I've been good about what I've said about them post departure."

He has since gone on to form a new company to create social and mobile games. In an ironic twist, Jacobs says that the idea for getting into the social gaming market took root while he was at Mythic, but he left before acting on that notion.

Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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