More job losses at EA's Mythic studio

Mythic's Mark Jacobs has revealed that the company is making further staff cuts following the launch of MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

He made the statement to assure consumers the team was committed to the game, as rumours began to circulate that key development and design talent are also facing the axe.

"Though we are resizing the team to move from a pre-launch to a post-launch size, we remain fully committed to creating and delivering the best WAR experience," wrote Jacobs.

"With respect to customer service, quality assurance and play testing, prior to the launch of WAR, we hired additional people to deal with the rush of demand associated with an MMO launch and to insure the best possible experience for our players.

"We accomplished that goal and as a result we had the smoothest-ever launch of a major MMO. Since the launch last year, the demand for customer service has gone down as players become more familiar with the game. Obviously, demand for a large QA and play-testing staff also falls after launch.  As a result, we saw a staff reduction which is in line with the company-wide initiative," he said.

Continuing Electronic Arts' corporate thinking, Jacobs did not address actual numbers of staff affected. A report by games blog Joystiq suggests that anything between 60 and 130 staff have been cut, including development and senior design members.

Yesterday, EA announced plans to further reduce headcount across its entire business to 1100 staff members, and the closure of 12 facilities.