EA used to have that asshole John Retardetello and his scam business policy. Unfortunately, EA still has that asshole John Retardetello and his scam business policy.
EA confirms layoffs in LA, Montreal
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Battlefield publisher cuts unspecified number of jobs at multiple studios as a result of console transition.
Electronic Arts today confirmed it had enacted a round of layoffs at its Los Angeles and Montreal offices, a well as "some smaller locations." In a blog post titled "Transition Is Our Friend," EA Labels president Frank Gibeau explained that the cuts are a result of the ongoing console transition.
"EA's leadership on these high-growth platforms allows us to retain and attract the industry's best talent. Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives. But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance," Gibeau said. "This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job."
EA's Los Angeles campus is home to BioWare Victory and Danger Close Games, the latter of which developed Medal of Honor: Warfighter. As for Montreal, EA has teams in the region working on Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (Visceral Montreal) and mobile games (EA Montreal). It is not clear which teams were impacted or if development on any projects has been impacted as a result of the layoffs.
Gibeau described console transitions as "complex" and "challenging," but said he's not worried about EA's prospects. "We have never been more ready or more excited about what comes next," he said.
Last night, Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4 after years of speculation. The console is due to retailers this holiday, and it may not be the only next-generation platform available later this year. Microsoft is reportedly set to announce the Xbox 720 during an Apple-style media briefing in March, with the system hitting retail later in the year.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
58 comments
1 Like They try to keep the best talents, but continue to screw their clients with their dumb business models. This money machine needs to stop, before it destroys the gaming industry.
When they say they keep their best talents, does that include the guys from India on the customer support because honestly they effing s*ck!
@ZoTrAcK Here here, I called once, ONCE b/c my install limit hit on Crysis.... one of the worst phone calls I've had to participate in..... F'ing limit on installs... yeesh.
1 Like Transition is our friend as they lay people off? What the......Man I don't like this company.
1 Like Next gen console affecting traditional employees! Hope they'll grab a better place to continue the service!
While there is no such thing as job security, I'm pretty sure I'd rather sever my own foot and then eat it instead of signing up for a game of hot potato-er, I mean....a career in the video game industry. I really hope there is a second crash.
1 Like Only one who needs layoff in EA is the person on the very top of the EA's zionist pyramid.
1 Like "EA has teams in the region working on Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (Visceral Montreal) "
Which if course means they're making more Army of 2 games for some reason.
@redskinStu They are popular with the fratboy bromance moron demographic that keeps making CoD a success, I suppose..
1 Like I think game development in general has become a lot easier as well as cross-platform production... e.g., Unreal Engine 4.You don't need separate teams nowadays to make PC, PS, Xbox etc. versions.
1 Like He is trying way too hard to make getting laid off sound like a good thing for these employees...
5 Like ...ea doesn't need those creative personnel, copying and pasting has paid off...is all i read.
4 Like EA should continue laying off people. Apparently it doesn't matter having thousands of people or a hundred of people EA will continue to produce crap. I mean look at their top 5 games this year, they don't exactly need a lot of people to rehash the same game.
Most of these people are creating your Studios making games nowadays in HD are becoming Super easy! don´t crying you all gonna receive new games.
I hope all the people impacted by these layoffs manage to find alternative employment soon.
I was sort of expecting this kind of news industry wide with the move to a more 'standard' configuration for the next round of consoles. It should be all the more easy to port between the different platforms, so some positions were bound to become redundant and surplus to requirements.
1 Like I want John Retardetello and EA out of job so that the devs at EA can use their creative talents without him lashing on their backs.
I hope you aren't BSing and actuall do something for the employees you let go. I find it weird they got laid off because of the console shifting to next-gen. Then again, I wasn't around much on the internet and whatnot last time generations shifted, so maybe it happened then. Anyway, I hope you look yourselves in the mirror, and imagine if it was you.
9 Like *Clap Clap Clap*
Excellent news, Gamespot.
While it IS unfortunate that people lost their jobs, let us hope the next article reads:
"EA files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, John Riccitiello performs Harikari"
1 Like @3dfreak2000 you ever look a bobby whats his face from activation he looks like a Ferengi. He has the kinda face you just want to smash with your fist, you can see the dollar sings in his eyes.
Seems like every game studio is either going bankrupt or laying massive amounts of people off. Buy those games, people!
@sonicare Rather them than me. I feel for the workers, not for the company. But right now, the whole world is short on pocket moeny to spend on luxury items like.... games.
1 Like @sonicare Hell no. As painful as it may be for these who are laid off, EA must die. Boycott those games, people!
1 Like @green_scorpion i have been boycotting their games for many years now, and i dont regret it, i thought maybe i would kick myself for it and i would want to play something in the future that they released. but im happy to say that i have not cared what games they have come out with since. be it a new C&C or whatever their franchises are, they all suck from what i have seen anyways.
@blackothh @green_scorpion They got some good games. Dead Space, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Burnout: Paradise, Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Pretty much means consoles are now super easy to dev for now and ports are going to be a snap.
So there is no reason for console game to go up in price either.
More bad news. It seems PC and Mobile Tablet gaming are the only areas that are growing/staying steady the past couple of years. The handheld market has tanked. I don't think it shall ever return given the proliferation of Tablets. The Wii U has been disappointing. Only going to get worse for Nintendo as other 2 enter the market. Big shift happening.
We get COD nearly yearly, Sports games yearly, Car games yearly, .... New IP is in a this is just like _______ game but with ________. SO, Im not holding my breath on anything new. And if not then it will be even loner until I jump on next gen's bandwagon.
You would expect that EA would be hard at work getting Playstation 4 games ready. And Xbox 720 games ready Playstation 4 is due to be released this year in November. Same for the next Xbox. 10 months or so till launch? EA should be getting the NHL hockey, NFL football, FIFA soccer, MLB baseball, NBA basketball, NASCAR racing, NCAA basketcall, Boxing, Tennis, Maybe "Extreme sports"
And whatever non sports games that EA does or has planned for Playstation 4 and Xbox 720. Launch is not that far away. EA is not in the game....Console transition should be a busy time.
The Xbox 720 and the PS4 need games even EA's
@Megavideogamer True, but last gen not as many games consoles were sold, for the Hard core crowd. More Casual games, were sold than the gen before. The cost of making games has gone up. to make less games.
So less people may be employed this gen for less games and EA as others may focus on a few games that come out each year or two.
Man all this news is so Sad, The whole industry has been in decline for awhile now. I really hope PS4 and the xbox can get the general population excited about gaming again. Otherwise I'm not sure where we are going to be at when everything shakes out
@EmperorSupreme ITs going to not be as good unless GAMES are different, and people get excited about the games.
TOO few games of the same type and scope. TOO many games coming out each year or two.
The cost of games have developers TOO dependent on publishers who are only willing to publish a sure money making game.
12 Like I wonder if the layoffs are only associated to Sony software engineers, given the new PC based (more familiar) architecture of the PS4 will negate the need for specialist 'Cell Architecture' engineers.
It seems entire studios were nixed and not just specific individuals. Although a good theory I wouldn't put all my money there.
Also Corporations seldom work that fast...usually I'd expect a week of decision making to happen...then again they may have "been in the know" all along.
I suspect a mass of outsourcing frankly. Merely suspicion.
@Poodlejumper TOO true, the GRUNT WORK will be shifted to more programmers in India, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, china, and any other place with cheap wages and proficient coders.
Good call!
I was already feeling badly for the Naughty Dog dev team in the wake of the PS4 spec revelations.
2 Like I dont think Naughty Dog have any fears, as they have demonstrated beyond any doubt the quality and imagination they can bring to their games.
2 Like @s_h_a_d_o @thenephariouson The fact that they did so well on the PS3 leads me to believe that they are just good programmers in general so I'm sure they'll be fine. Besides, every CS major is taught with x86 so that's their beginning regardless.
Artists, writers and animators sure - coders maybe not so much (unless they're proficient with 64-bit x86)
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Related Game
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
- Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
- Developer(s): Visceral Games
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
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