It's amazing that 600 is only 6 percent of their workforce...
It's especially interesting that their revenue increased 33% this year yet they still have to do this.
Best of luck to anyone who lost their job. Hopefully after the elections are over and the economy calms down a touch there will be a lot of job opportunities popping up.
As for the layoffs, "It’s a global reduction, not just focused on one studio or one location," EA spokesperson Mariam Sughayer told Gamasutra today, explaining that the affected employees were informed this week.
I'm sorry for all who lost their job, and hope they land on their feet, but I'm pretty pissed off about this.
It seems EA is treading a fine line right now. I don't think it's farfetched to presume some of their employees possibly opting for collective bargaining, and forming a union to prevent further mistreatment (I know this might be a bigger possibility for EAC in the Union-Happy BC).
I suppose their next mega purge will come sometime in 2012.
Fuck, thats messed up. Good luck getting new jobs to anyone effected. At the end of the day its always the bottom line that the corprates care about. Usualy a bunch of dumb cunts who know shit about the companies they supposedly run.
Heard from a reliable resource that the people let go were not the artists and production people, but rather mainly non-production positions. Of course, this doesn't make it any better, but apparently artists/animators, etc. weren't on the list of those who lost their jobs. Hopefully those who were effected will find work soon.
well. If you read the report you will see that EA has increased its revenue BUT also increased its costs and is therefore losing money. Now, im no expert in economy and social politics (as a lot of the frequenters of this forum supposedly is ) but the purpose of any company is to make money and not loose them. So i really dont see anything wrong with ea taking actions.
well. If you read the report you will see that EA has increased its revenue BUT also increased its costs and is therefore losing money. Now, im no expert in economy and social politics (as a lot of the frequenters of this forum supposedly is ) but the purpose of any company is to make money and not loose them. So i really dont see anything wrong with ea taking actions.
Heard from a reliable resource that the people let go were not the artists and production people, but rather mainly non-production positions. Of course, this doesn't make it any better, but apparently artists/animators, etc. weren't on the list of those who lost their jobs. Hopefully those who were effected will find work soon.
Not to be mean or cruel, losing a job sucks! But, what if it were 600 janitors? If this were a forum about toilet cleaning, I could see an upheaval. It makes me feel better, knowing it was not employees directly associated with making art. Maybe that money saved in janitors hires a few new artists?
If the rumors are true glade it wasn't art, but still sucks. Horrible to be laid off so close to holidays. I'll say good luck to anyone that was canned, but they probably don't visit this forum.
Maybe I'm a bit sympathetic now that I'm part of the Evil Ampire, or I see them trying to improve, but layoffs aren't necessarily times for company bashing. There are times, such as the recent Lucas or Midway layoffs, where the action is another manifestation of deep-seated problems and does not address the issues. The problem is systematic and cultural and axing some grunts solves nothing- these sort of things I really abhor.
But what EA did was much more strategic. I'm sure there were some game devs who were layed off, some of them unfairly, but I am under the assumption most EA developer layoffs (not all 600 were devs) were from project cancellations. Canceling under-performing projects is, while it is hard to say it is a good thing without sounding like a douche, is not a bad thing. There are some studios (EALA?) that have chronic problems- but sometimes even the best studios have projects that just don't seem to work. Or projects that aren't shaping up to be competitive or high quality. Is it really damnable to cancel these projects? I'm glad a few projects that I know of were cancelled based on what I know and heard of them, because you always have to wonder whether that makes others worse off. Ideally the devs would be mostly redistributed and not have to be laid off, but with the economy how it is, I can't entirely blame the decision. True, EA is in good financial shape and games are growing, and I'm sure the layoffs still haven't fixed some deep problems at some studios, but I'm not surprised to hear any of this either. No studios closing, so that's a good thing.
Now, regarding revenue vs. behavior, an anecdote: EA bonuses are usually decided based on EA performance from the prior year. And even though last fiscal year or half-year when they were last calculated, we had record revenues, because EA spent 800 million on BioWare, profit was down or was a loss, can't remember. But regardless, we (well not me, I was too new to qualify for a bonus) got the shit end of the stick because of that. I find it amazing other EA dev bonuses would be punished because EA acquires a studio, even if they have done a great and improving job- what sort of incentive is that? Seriously, messed up.
Maybe it is because I'm at a newly acquired EA studio, and haven't worked at a 'real' EA studio, or I've only been an EA employee since the 'new' restructuring under John Ricitello and I accept a line of bullshit at truth, or maybe I have my entire head up my ass and I'm completely missing the boat, but out of any major publisher right now, I think I'd still prefer to be working for EA.
Replies
Best of luck finding new work guys!
It's especially interesting that their revenue increased 33% this year yet they still have to do this.
Best of luck to anyone who lost their job. Hopefully after the elections are over and the economy calms down a touch there will be a lot of job opportunities popping up.
www.crypticstudios.com
If this economy continues I'm sure a lot of people will be laid off
I'm sorry for all who lost their job, and hope they land on their feet, but I'm pretty pissed off about this.
It seems EA is treading a fine line right now. I don't think it's farfetched to presume some of their employees possibly opting for collective bargaining, and forming a union to prevent further mistreatment (I know this might be a bigger possibility for EAC in the Union-Happy BC).
I suppose their next mega purge will come sometime in 2012.
wonder how many people actually workign on games got fired.. guess a lot of the layoffs are service and office personal.
Nope, you're crazy. EA has never laid anyone off before. . .
EDIT: Never mind, just finished reading the artcle, hope the 50 mill was worth it.
50 million = 600 employees = $83333 average salary. Man that is a big company.
Especially if...
Not to be mean or cruel, losing a job sucks! But, what if it were 600 janitors? If this were a forum about toilet cleaning, I could see an upheaval. It makes me feel better, knowing it was not employees directly associated with making art. Maybe that money saved in janitors hires a few new artists?
Good luck on your hunt!
I think that was Lucas Arts?
But what EA did was much more strategic. I'm sure there were some game devs who were layed off, some of them unfairly, but I am under the assumption most EA developer layoffs (not all 600 were devs) were from project cancellations. Canceling under-performing projects is, while it is hard to say it is a good thing without sounding like a douche, is not a bad thing. There are some studios (EALA?) that have chronic problems- but sometimes even the best studios have projects that just don't seem to work. Or projects that aren't shaping up to be competitive or high quality. Is it really damnable to cancel these projects? I'm glad a few projects that I know of were cancelled based on what I know and heard of them, because you always have to wonder whether that makes others worse off. Ideally the devs would be mostly redistributed and not have to be laid off, but with the economy how it is, I can't entirely blame the decision. True, EA is in good financial shape and games are growing, and I'm sure the layoffs still haven't fixed some deep problems at some studios, but I'm not surprised to hear any of this either. No studios closing, so that's a good thing.
Now, regarding revenue vs. behavior, an anecdote: EA bonuses are usually decided based on EA performance from the prior year. And even though last fiscal year or half-year when they were last calculated, we had record revenues, because EA spent 800 million on BioWare, profit was down or was a loss, can't remember. But regardless, we (well not me, I was too new to qualify for a bonus) got the shit end of the stick because of that. I find it amazing other EA dev bonuses would be punished because EA acquires a studio, even if they have done a great and improving job- what sort of incentive is that? Seriously, messed up.
Maybe it is because I'm at a newly acquired EA studio, and haven't worked at a 'real' EA studio, or I've only been an EA employee since the 'new' restructuring under John Ricitello and I accept a line of bullshit at truth, or maybe I have my entire head up my ass and I'm completely missing the boat, but out of any major publisher right now, I think I'd still prefer to be working for EA.