Less than a year after Electronic Arts announced it would create 300 new jobs at its Galway, Ireland, customer service center, the publisher has cut a number of positions at the outfit, according to a statement provided to Irish news site The Journal. 
The exact number of cuts was not divulged, though The Journal said it understands the figure is under 20. A spokesperson for IDA Ireland, the group responsible for attracting foreign investment in the country, told the publication it "has a longstanding relationship with EA--the company continues to employ significant numbers in the Galway area."
EA's customer support center in Galway originally opened in September 2011 with the sole purpose of supporting BioWare's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic. This changed a year later, when EA said the facility would also provide multilingual support and services for its major games.
EA's Galway outfit is just one of the company's studios to be hit with layoffs of late. Last Thursday, the publisher confirmed cuts as a means to "streamline" its business in preparation for the upcoming console transition. Layoff totals were not officially divulged, though Joystiq reports this figure includes 60 to 70 permanent employees and over 100 contract workers, mostly quality assurance testers.
Layoff news at EA comes a month after former CEO John Riccitiello admitted that EA would miss its financial projections for the full-year ended March 31.
"This is a tough decision, but it all comes down to accountability," Riccitiello said in his resignation letter last month. "The progress EA has made on transitioning to digital games and services is something I'm extremely proud of. However, it currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued in January, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. EA's shareholders and employees expect better and I am accountable for the miss."
Discussion
i never thought they have one expect from a automated bot that reply to your question on it's own after googling lol.
This changes NOTHING....might as well shut the whole Customer Support center down, cause it already feel like they don't have one.
EA has a customer support center?
TIL that EA has customer support. WOW!
EA can u also fire the guys who in charge of the DRMs while u at it?
EA customer service = oxy moron.
I know this might be a little idea that you may or may not have had. But maybe if you make good games that bring something new to the table, then maybe you guys won't lose heaps of money you know that just my idea.
But what do I know I'm just some guy.
"EA's customer's service"?? Pfftt, that's just a myth. You guys are crazy. lol
They didn't need them at the first place because their customer service sucks anyway :)
Ironically after waiting 6 months for EA to get back to me about my issue, the guy just told me they are hiring more people.
ha
loss of sales=loss of jobs........
See, when will they learn, everyone still working at EA take notice of this and if you want to still work there, STOP HELPING COSTUMERS.
EA, customer service. lol
What a great way to stay on top of Americas worst company list...
I think it's customer disservice EA thank you.
What customer support
EA will do anything to make even their Worst Company in America award a yearly thing.
You are meaning to tell me that EA actually once had Customer Support? Bullshit.
EA had Customer service and quality assurance testers? who'd of thought (-_-)7
EA Meeting Room -
"We dont give a shit about our customers anyways, why are we paying so many service reps. Sheesh! Get em off the damn payroll! We need to make our next quarter financials stellar!""
EA cutted some people off their jobs, then EA created more new jobs for people. What a bunch of wasted times. D:
Of course they shrink the Customer Service department! They keep telling themselves that people love them and it's easier to believe it when they won't hear any objections from the customers.
Anyone remember those posted support logs from customers trying to get a refund but could not because of that stupid no refund on digital purchases? Very incompetent customer support even when they had it. It's gonna get worst now with EA cutting it down further.
EA you planning to go for a three-peat title?
Ah...EA customer support...I'm guessing these 20-ish staff members are actually glad to be unemployed...they can finally let their ears heal...
Meh, dont give a shot because the wait time only went from 1 hour to 2, not including the constant 'bumps' to 'managers' and, Let me transfer you to moron B; that will also be another 10 min. Also did we forget to mention that we dont have a FUCKING TOLL FREE NUMBER that works EVER.
I heard that customer support will work with micro-transactions from now on.
The one thing I like about EA is they have great Customer Support. Every time I had to deal with them they were easy to contact and quickly fixed the problem.
Wait. As sad as it is that jobs were lost..... EA has customer support?
This is just more PR coming from EA. They're trying to show us they have customer support...
Oh the irony of the fact they were just voted the worst company and they cut customer support personnel lol
EA is dying a slow and painful death.
SIM SHITTY!
typical for ea.
Fortunately there customer support is legendary for being non-existent
Eliminating it's own customer support is great strategy to keep your posiiton as the worst american company.
you know, i actually feel sorry for these people with this job...
it took me 45mins to an hour to reach someone at their customer service center & when i was transferred to help my issue out, it took another 45mins to an hour to get ahold of that person...
no exaggeration, i looked at my watch when this happened...
if anything, EA needs more customer service personal, cause they dont have enough to handle the call volume that they receive...
the support people that i spoke with were quite nice & actually put EA on blast for their poor treatment of people...
its not these guys fault, they just have to sit there & take the bullshit, that EA dishes out to its customers...
one of the guys i spoke to, it was obvious he liked Steam better, i even showed him GoGs website & he was quite thrilled with my recommendation...
i have no clue why they are scaling back when EA needs waaaaaay more people answering their phones, these guys seem over worked & treated poorly due to EAs poor decision making in how they treat customers through their games...
"I'm going to miss EA's thorough and friendly support"-said no one ever.
idk if this is ironic or something else obivious maybe?
@ZombieKohhi I suspect this is the first thing that comes into peoples heads when seeing the title of this article!
@PSYCHOV3N0M dont forget Zynga, hate that company more than anything
@PaulJanson Damnit, you beat me to it.
@LimeStick Were the reviews from gamers or other companies like GameSpot or even IGN?, sadly that's the problem with reviews now days, specially since the people reviewing them paid absolutely nothing to get them so how can you trust them to give a fair and balanced review.
@Aramantha They have all kinds of customer support like Chairs! to support customers well they wait to file complaints, or railings to support customers as they wait for service.
Yup EA had to let it all go.
@Stebsis EA presentsWORST COMPANIES IN AMERICA THE GAME
Day One DLC-The expansion Worst Company of the Month pack for just $10.99
BUT IF YOU RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW YOU GET THE DLC CODE TO GET, ADAM ORTH FORMER EMPLOYEE OF MICROSOFT, FOR $4.99
@yerg3 This must be one of the new positions they have created at EA. Forum Shill.
@yerg3 SOMEONE GET THIS PERSON TO THE HOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!
@CptRexKramer Typical, they finally admit to having customer support (allegedly), and we only find out when they reduce it. Hard to believe it could be reduced.
@Tommy7600 *had :)
@helldragonzer @LimeStick uhhh this isn't suppose to be here... It posted where I intended but why here too...
@Scootrician @CptRexKramer no it's like Walmart price slashing you double the price of something then take 60% off it so it looks like they saved a ton.
EA "see we have ton's of customer service"
Humanity "so where are they?"
EA "shoot just fired them...."