The somber parade of layoffs in the gaming industry continues this week.
Publisher EA confirmed to GamesBeat that it has laid off staff today. EA won’t disclose the teams or number of employees affected, but EA insiders claim developer EA Mobile Montreal is the hardest hit.
BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy Tweeted the following before stating that the cuts didn’t affect anyone at his company:
Truly saddened about so many of our EA Montreal friends being impacted today
— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) April 11, 2013
“EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile,” an EA spokesperson told GamesBeat. “In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization.”
“These are difficult decisions to let go of good people who have made important contributions to EA, and whenever possible we retrain or relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining our operations will help ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world.”
While EA Mobile Montreal reportedly took the brunt of the layoffs, Roy went on to insinuate that the cuts were more widespread than that:
Clarifications on events: yes, there were layoffs, and many EA friends were impacted :-(
— Yanick Roy (@YanickRRoy) April 11, 2013
EA Mobile Montreal is one of eight EA Mobile studios. Collectively, the developers are responsible for mobile versions of The Sims, Need For Speed, and FIFA. The studios also produce titles like Tetris and The Simpsons: Tapped Out.
In February, EA cut jobs at Visceral Montreal as well.
Earlier this week, a user poll voted EA the Consumerist blog’s Worst Company in America. Many gamers voted for the publisher due to its business practices, but layoffs was not one of the reasons cited by the blog.
In March, EA chief executive officer John Riccitiello stepped down from that position. He said he wanted to take accountability for the publisher missing its quarterly earning guidance.
The publisher has yet to replace Riccitiello with a new CEO.