The latest news will come as no surprise to readers here. I have written multiple articles on how and why Electronic Arts is losing so much money. And I have written multiple articles about what is wrong with the games industry and why it is shedding so many staff.
This latest news is that EA losses are even worse than before. They made a fiscal Q2 loss of $391 million, 26% up from the year before. Whilst game sales are booming and the customer base is bigger than ever before. So now EA have instituted massive redundancies. Current estimates are that 1,500 staff are to go. The worst hit studios seem to be Tiburon, Mythic, Black Box and Redwood Shores. Maybe shareholders should be looking at the strategic management of the company.
This is a huge amount of personal tragedy for those involved. There is no way that the rest of the games industry can absorb so many people, especially when so many have already been made redundant elsewhere. So lots of people will be leaving the industry to work in other industries. The upside here is that game developers tend to be very intelligent and well educated people and can generally expect to earn far more outside the game industry and to experience far better working conditions too.
To anyone training to work in the game industry or thinking about such training things look very bad indeed. Not only are there going to be far less jobs for some time, there will also be many very experienced applicants for every position that comes up. Time, perhaps, to reconsider your options.
Finally, if any EA management are visiting here I very strongly suggest that you read this, it was written with you in mind.
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I hope that poster doesn’t come back and bite you on the ass, Bruce. The first time it was used was in the 1979 General Election, when it bemoaned the fact that 1.5 million were on the dole. Then came the Eighties, the Thatcher years, when unemployment skyrocketed despite the Government ‘rationalising’ the way the figures are calculated. It’s been estimated that had the method of calculation current in 1979 been used throughout the next decade, unemployment would’ve peaked at 8 million. And now that tired old graphic is wheeled out again, complaining about a dole queue that Thatcher could only dream about.
Regarding Electronic Arts, I’m the reviews editor of a non-gaming computer title, and tried to organise a competition with EA. I got as far as the receptionist, who refused to put me through to the person I needed to speak to unless I could name him or her. Company policy, apparently. Needless to say, I placed the competition somewhere else.
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John Riccitiello: “We have lots of compassion for those affected, these cuts are essential to transforming our company.”
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=26002
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No se si se dan cuenta que en el escenario planteado por Microsoft en la lucha antipirateria con su XBOX 360, pasa unicamente por la adquisicion de Electronics Arts, ya que necesita un proveedor desarrolador en exclusiva de contenidos y de la plataformas, tanto Natal como redes sociales.
No obstante, la alianza Apple y Electronics Arts seria una apuesta por el saber hacer de Apple.
En fin creo que es altamente probable ver antes de final de año la adquisicion de Electronics Arts por el mas listo de la clase que es Bill Gates.
Un saludo