Batter vacates top slot at EA Mobile

EA staffers were notified in an internal e-mail today that John Batter, EA Mobile VP and general manager, had "resigned." This comes less than 24 hours after the giant game publisher announced it intended to acquire mobile game maker Jamdat in a deal worth $680 million.

While it is expected that Jamdat CEO Mitch Lasky will be slotted into EA Mobile's top position when the acquisition becomes official, Batter's departure is being framed by EA execs as a win-win for all parties rather than there being too little room for executive talent within the new, fortified mobile division.

Batter will return to DreamWorks Animation, the company where he was parked before moving to Electronic Arts. That organization is expected to make the news of Batter's return official later today.

Once the general manager of EALA, Batter had been appointed VP and general manager of EA Mobile late last year. He was the keynote speaker at this year's packed Game Developers Conference in March and was seen as giving visibility and standing to EA's renewed interest in the mobile arena.

While the move may strike some as intuitive--given the focus lavished on Jamdat founder Mitch Lasky yesterday in both Electronic Arts' press release and during the telephone conference with analysts that followed--the resolution of John Batter's career was not decided until today.

EA staff stressed it was Batter's decision to move on and that he was not forced from his job as division head. In fact, an early version of the EA press release announcing the Jamdat acquisition included a statement attributed to Batter.

Before the mobile assignment and his tenure at EALA, Batter was general manager of the publisher's Redwood Shores studio. As part of DreamWorks' computer animation division (PDI), he played significant roles on feature films including Antz and Shrek.

[Shortly after this story was first published, DreamWorks Animation announced Batter had rejoined the organization as a senior production executive.]