Montreal / Electronic Arts hit by layoffs

Update: An EA representative provided the following statement to IGN:

“EA Montreal is a key development studio where our long-term plan is to sharpen our teams’ focus on console and mobile games.”

EA has laid off staff in Los Angeles, Montreal and “smaller locations.” In a post on EA’s official site, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau discussed yesterday’s announcement of the PlayStation 4 and that just as the industry is transitioning, so is EA.

“Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives,” Gibeau wrote. “But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance. 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.”

“Console transitions are a complex and challenging experience,” Gibeau continued. “I’ve helped navigate several and agree with an old saying we have at EA: Transition is our friend. All the trend lines are converging to reward the creative and financial investments we have made in mobile and console technology. We have never been more ready or more excited about what comes next.”

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via EA Hit by Layoffs – IGN.

Related articles on the web

• Layoffs hit EA studios in LA and Montreal (pcgamer.com)
• EA layoffs in Los Angeles and Montreal studios part of ‘transition’ (polygon.com)
• EA announces layoffs in LA, Montreal (joystiq.com)