EA has reportedly handed out another wave of pink slips to several unfortunately employees. Specifically, we are hearing that nearly the entire staff of EA Mobile Montreal is out of work. EA has confirmed layoffs have taken place but didn't delve into just how many employees were let go or which offices were affected.
In a statement to Joystiq on the matter, EA said they are sharpening their focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile. The publisher noted that in some cases, this involves reducing team sizes in order to evolve into a more efficient organization.
EA said it is a difficult decision to let good people go that have made valuable contributions to the company and whenever possible, they retrain or help relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining their operations, they said, will help them ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world.
The publication believes that roughly 60 to 70 full-time employees were shown the door yesterday in addition to more than 100 other contract workers. The majority of the part-time help were quality assurance testers, we're told.
Most in the industry expected some swooping changes after CEO John Riccitiello resigned from his position last month. At the time, he said his decision to leave came down to accountability for shortcomings with regards to EA's financial results for the year. He expected EA to finish a bit on the low end of the financial guidance they issued to Wallstreet.