Electronic Arts is laying off 350 people. Including closing an office in Russia
Video game publisher Electronic Arts has taken on large-scale cuts. 350 employees will leave the company. Layoffs will affect marketing departments, publications and not only.
This is reported by Kotaku with reference to the official internal newsletter of the company. In a letter, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson stated that the purpose of the procedure is to consolidate departments, improve user support and change the international strategy.
We have a desire to become the world's greatest gaming company. To be honest with ourselves, we are not such a company right now. We still have to work on our games, on the relationship with users, on our business.
CEO of Electronic Arts
As part of the restructuring, Electronic Arts will close offices in Russia and Japan.
The text of the company’s official statement on the reduction:
Today we have taken some important steps. They are the answer to the difficulties that we face today. They are also a preparation for the opportunities that lie ahead. Since we see a changing world around us, it seems obvious that we must change with it. The current steps have been carefully considered and weighed. Their goal is to help us fulfill our obligations, improve the organization and meet the expectations of our players. As part of this, we undertook changes that affected marketing, publishing and the work of our operational teams. We are also scaling back our current presence in Japan and Russia. The latter is due to the fact that we plan to support our users in these markets differently. In addition to organizational changes, we have focused on improving the quality of our games and services. Cool games will continue to be the most important thing for us, and we are already thinking about how to surprise and inspire our players.
This is not the first reduction of Electronic Arts in 2019. In February, it became known about the dismissal of 40-50 employees in the Australian Firemonkeys, which was engaged in the development of such mobile titles as Real Racing 3, The Sims: FreePlay and Need for Speed: No Limits.
The previous financial quarter did not end well for the company. She missed $86 million. The current quarter, despite the high sales of Apex Legends and Anthem, may also show far from the planned indicators due to the difficult launch of the latter.
Electronic Arts expects to earn $1.16 billion in January-March.
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