From The Verge: EA has confirmed that it’s laying off 350 of its 9,000 employees globally in a round of redundancies focused mainly on its marketing and publishing departments. The layoffs were announced in an email obtained by Kotaku from the company’s CEO Andrew Wilson. In a statement, the company later confirmed the layoffs, adding that it would be “ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia.”
The layoffs come at a difficult time for EA and much of the video game industry. EA reportedly canceled its single-player-focused Star Wars game back in January after having closed the studio that was originally working on it back in 2017. One of its main competitors, Activision Blizzard, cut almost 800 jobs at the beginning of February.
In a statement, EA said that it was taking “important steps as a company to address our challenges” and that it did not take these decisions lightly. “We are deeply focused on increasing quality in our games and services,” the company said.
Although the company’s initial statement said that it was “ramping down” its operations in Japan and Russia, a later report from Famitsu (via GameIndustry.biz) confirmed that EA has closed its Japanese office entirely.
In his email to the company announcing the layoffs, Wilson said, “We have a vision to be the World’s Greatest Games Company” but that “if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re not there right now.” Wilson has been CEO of EA since 2013 when he took over from John Riccitiello
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