EA confirms "seasonal" job losses following recent launches
Rumours suggest over 100 staff axed in Canada, but publisher claims "sources may be exaggerating"
Electronic Arts has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that it is laying off a number of staff following the release of high profile fourth quarter titles.
Calling the job losses "seasonal", EA would not give solid numbers of those affected or particular studios, and stated that "sources may be exaggerating" on the scale of redundancies.
Rumours suggest EA Canada has felt the biggest swing of the axe, with industry professionals on Twitter - including 3D Realm's George Broussard - talking of over 100 employees laid off.
"As you know, seasonal roll-offs that follow game launches are common - and vital to maintaining a healthy business," commented a spokesperson from EA's Geneva office.
"Because so many of our games ship in the holiday quarter, team size adjustments tend to follow in the same timeframe. At the same time, EA is growing and several of our studios are looking to hire talented people."
The move is a seasonal pattern for the global publisher, which last year axed over 1500 jobs in an effort to save at least $100 million. In 2008 is made more severe cuts, as it planned to drop over 600 positions globally.
A report by Shacknews also claims EA Black Box has been hit with redundancies along with EA Canada - both based in Vancouver - affecting the teams behind NBA Elite and Skate 3.
Earlier this week, analyst firm Cowan & Company said that a number of high-profile titles from EA were failing to show a long tail at retail, singling out new release EA Sports MMA in particular as being "dead on arrival."
More solid details on the layoffs and potential savings are likely to be revealed in EA's second quarter financial results on November 2.