Comments on: EA laying off 600 people, tightening belt

By: CrunchGear » Archive » Two lawsuits against EA, one might have merit

CrunchGear » Archive » Two lawsuits against EA, one might have merit — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:30:38 +0000

[...] wretched EA. First they have to make 600 staff walk the plank, and now they’re being sued all over the place. There are a lot of hackles raised by [...]

By: TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » EAが600人レイオフ、ベルト引き締め

TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » EAが600人レイオフ、ベルト引き締め — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:07:54 +0000

[...] [CG原文へ] [...]

By: Cool Products

Cool Products — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:20:20 +0000

It is a bummer to hear that even solid companies like EA are feeling the effects of the economic downturn, and having to adjust to them by having to let people go. This is a trend that is definitely going to reach us all.

By: Dwayne from Probably Sucks Blog

Dwayne from Probably Sucks Blog — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:30:38 +0000

Good riddance to the people that were fired. Seriously though, sometimes people need to get their asses fired so they don’t become lazy.

Do you think a web developer got anywhere being at the one place for most of his career?

Dwayne.
http://probablysucks.com

By: Senthil

Senthil — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:28:34 +0000

Yes we have 2 guys at EA plz take of them.

By: roni

roni — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:56:57 +0000

Thank’s

By: omtv

omtv — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:30:29 +0000

Even tech companys start to cut people.
When will this come to an end

By: victor

victor — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:58:25 +0000

Well I can’t say I feel sympathy for them. They screw customers with shitty tech support, so if they are purging the lame it can’t be that bad (If at least their games were robust enough not to need tech support, no one would have noticed. But they happen not to be). Yes, I’m sour. Can’t I?

By: The Windows Fix

The Windows Fix — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:23:22 +0000

Wow, it’s amazing how EA is still getting hit so bad. They have some of biggest games in the world and yet they aren’t making that much money.

It always seems like they are in trouble.

By: greek direcory

greek direcory — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:30:50 +0000

A major company having making this kind of move is a bit scary!

By: Electronic Arts Layoffs Reach 600 : tinyComb

Electronic Arts Layoffs Reach 600 : tinyComb — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:02:07 +0000

[...] CG November 2, 2008 | jason | tinyComb | No related posts [...]

By: chance

chance — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:55:50 +0000

This is definitely worrisome. I wonder if other game companies will be making similar cuts.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:19:06 +0000

With a single AAA game taking ~400 people to build/ship these days, ~600 people is basically a game & a half. (Ok, maybe 2-3 if you assume fractional time spent across several games.) However, given the huge number of games that EA ships, and the thousands of EA employees, 600 really isn’t a big deal in percentage terms.

Two closing points:

1. One can predict the layoffs at game companies with the same accuracy as when the leaves are going to fall from tress – they will fall, it’s just a matter of +- a few weeks one way or the other in terms of a precise date.

2. Don’t get distracted by absolute values. Remember it’s inevitable that gas is going to cost $6/gal in the US, it’s only a matter of when. :)

By: Zelda

Zelda — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:01:49 +0000

They just decided to kill the Tiberium title being done out of EA LA recently. I wouldn’t be too surprised if more of the layoffs were at that studio than anywhere else. Like EA Chicago before them, I rather suspect this is more about the commercial performance of their titles than the macro economy. Sales of games have been good.

Most big companies use the old GE “fire the bottom 5%” maxim as HR policy anyway. Seems to me EA tacked on an extra percent and sold it as a cost cutting measure to shore up the stock price.

By: brian

brian — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:56:34 +0000

ok…where are you guys getting all these information? Looks like the economy is seriously screwed up. Just waiting when Microsoft starts laying off…

http://www.livbit.com

By: Daniel Kemp

Daniel Kemp — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:54:33 +0000

They got 10,000 people at their place {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/jpxksPsb8n_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”They got 10,000 people at their place ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/LTXc9AIwSM”}}}

By: Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:02:18 +0000

Yeah, I wondered whether it was part of a cyclic thing… but the games industry is a lot smaller than the movies industry in terms of people employed. You’re probably right in part but we would have seen this type of action in years past as well if it was normal. Probably 100 people is normal… 600 isn’t.

By: cheezespread

cheezespread — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:05:59 +0000

As much as EA gets flak for being a sequel machine, at least they still put out genuinely good stuff every once in a while.

And they add these draconian DRM stuff to curb what ?..Piracy. That game seems to be the most pirated ever . As some one put it ” many downloaded it just for the sake of making EA realize their stupid move “.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:53:04 +0000

This is completely ordinary. Game companies are like movie studios, at the end of the movie they fire a bunch of people. Game mostly ship at Xmas so a pile of layoffs right before it is routine. Publically traded game companies like EA also do a purge at the end of their fiscal year (march for EA). So there will be another round as assuredly as the sun will rise tomorrow.

Those of us in the industry just plan accordingly…

By: Layoff’s, It’s In The Game… « Jobstaxi’s Weblog

Layoff’s, It’s In The Game… « Jobstaxi’s Weblog — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:45:45 +0000

[...] and they’re the biggest player in the industry. Read more from the article from TechCrunch here. It’s been quite a bloodbath in the tech industry when it comes to jobs. TechCrunch’s [...]