EA Heavily Cuts Jobs at Mythic, Tiburon, Black Box and Redwood

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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EA Heavily Cuts Jobs at Mythic, Tiburon, Black Box and Redwood



Publishing giant EA has reportedly made severe layoffs at several of its studios including Mythic, Redwood Shores, Black Box and Madden developer Tiburon, with early estimates putting the number of jobs lost at a staggering 1500.

The announcement that Electronic Arts would be making cuts at a number of its satellite studios hit the gaming blogs earlier today, specifically targeting four development houses in particular. Virginia-based EA Mythic, developer and operator of Warhammer Online and Ultima Online, reportedly suffered losses of 80 employees - approximately 40% of its work force, according to a Tweet from Mythic volunteer Katherine Pitta [http://twitter.com/Athryn/statuses/5565314202].

Those laid off at Mythic are hardly alone, however. EA Black Box, developer of the Need For Speed and Skate series, also reportedly suffered cuts. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, though, are the reports of layoffs at EA Tiburon and EA Redwood Shores. The former is the developer of the hugely popular Madden NFL games, and though initial sales of Madden '10 and "discouraging," [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94004-Madden-NFL-2010-Gets-a-Slow-Start] even a slow year for Madden would be considered wildly successful for almost any other game out there. EA Redwood Shores, on the other hand, is the company's HQ, home to studios that developed games like Dead Space and the hugely popular Sims franchise.

This news came in advance of the company's quarterly earnings call, through rumors and via Twitter, like a particular Tweet [http://twitter.com/erong/status/5566020930] from former EA staff member Eron Garcia: "Who just got laid off: a. Me, b. Most of my department, c. HUGE chunks of EA, d. All of the Above." Though it is not uncommon for studios to go through yearly layoffs to trim the fat after completion of the season's big holiday games, the perception of these layoffs is that they are significantly more severe than they might have been otherwise. The reports follow the announcement that EA would be buying casual gaming studio Playfish for $300 million.

Early estimates place the number of jobs lost at an unfortunately high 1500, though we will revise as necessary as more accurate information comes in. Best of luck to any of our readers with the misfortune to be caught in the cuts.

(Via GamaSutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25999])

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Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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I'm trying to decide between "Wow" and "Holy shi-"

That's a lot of jobs when you consider some teams are only 200~ large.
 

Baron Khaine

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Jun 24, 2009
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I bet Bioware aren't being laid off.

Thats it boy's, work on that cash cow some more for daddy.
 

blackshark121

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Jan 4, 2009
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Dayum. There goes any chance of returning to Warhammer Online... time to wait for the 40k version.
 

A Weary Exile

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Aug 24, 2009
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Even EA is cutting jobs? What does that mean for smaller developers? I really hope 2K doesn't start laying people off, lest they screw up Bioshock 2 with a lack of team members, although Borderlands should keep them going for quite a while.
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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Well, Bioware is intact so it's not all bad. I'm guessing they are cutting from departments and studios that are either overstaffed or underperforming (I'm looking at you, Mythic).
 

Sronpop

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Mar 26, 2009
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Not that surprising if the reports on their financial losses are correct. It just a pity that they made their most profits when the gaming community despised them for putting out the same game year after year, and then a year after they start to actually change and release new IP's (ie. Mirror Edge, Dead Space etc.) all the get is a kick in the crotch from the economy. Sucks for all the dudes and gals that got laid off, can't be easy, especially before christmas.
 

Pendragon9

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Apr 26, 2009
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What?! You mean we won't get any more Madden games? NOOOOOO

Nah, I'm kidding. This is too bad for those developers. I hope they can find work elsewhere.
 

Acidwell

Beware of Snow Giraffes
Jun 13, 2009
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Did they never think that they could save on costs by halving the amount of sports games they made and then keep all those guys employed
 

blackshark121

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Jan 4, 2009
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Acidwell said:
Did they never think that they could save on costs by halving the amount of sports games they made and then keep all those guys employed
Less income =/= jobs.
 

Slycne

Tank Ninja
Feb 19, 2006
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Acidwell said:
Did they never think that they could save on costs by halving the amount of sports games they made and then keep all those guys employed
You realize that statement makes entirely no sense. You might not like them, but those games are still profitable enough to warrant them continuing to make them. So halving the amount of your profitable product would only force them to further fire more people.
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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Slycne said:
Acidwell said:
Did they never think that they could save on costs by halving the amount of sports games they made and then keep all those guys employed
You realize that statement makes entirely no sense. You might not like them, but those games are still profitable enough to warrant them continuing to make them. So halving the amount of your profitable product would only force them to further fire more people.
Also isn't EA Tiburon's reason for existance most of the EA Sports Games?
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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I wonder what ever happened to the old idea of companies watching our for their employees and even helping them out through the bad times. EA has made such ridiculous amounts of money in the past I'd have hoped they'd suck up a lot of problems before laying off that many people.

I feel sorry for those losing their jobs.
 

tk1989

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May 20, 2008
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Jandau said:
I'm guessing they are cutting from departments and studios that are either overstaffed or underperforming (I'm looking at you, Mythic).
I wouldn't say Mythic were 'under-performing'. Warhammer Online from what I can tell was a good game, its just people are too god damn loyal to WoW for it able to have any success....