EA Lays Off Employees, Transitions its Focus, Drops Suit with Zynga - The UpStream

EA Lays Off Employees, Transitions its Focus, Drops Suit with Zynga

posted Sunday Feb 24, 2013 by Nicholas DiMeo

EA Lays Off Employees, Transitions its Focus, Drops Suit with Zynga

Electronic Arts is slowly transitioning to a more digital and social development studio, as we suspected. This week, EA has laid off a bunch of employees in their Los Angeles and Montreal studios as the company makes the shift to mobile gaming and next-gen. Frank Gibeau, president of EA Labels, said in this blog post that it is because EA has made strong investments and moves towards mobile and new console technology. He also added that thousands of current EA employees, instead of being let go, were reassigned work that was in line with their new visions. He said,

Console transitions are a complex and challenging experience. I've helped navigate several and agree with an old saying we have at EA: Transition is our friend.

No word yet on how many employees were terminated or what positions they were holding. We wish the best for the laid off employees' future endeavors.

In other EA news, does anyone remember when Zynga launched The Ville and made it look exactly like Sims Social? EA sued the company, claiming copyright infringements, employee poaching and just sheer laziness (off the record). It appears that after months of squabbling, EA has dropped the legal suit against Zynga and all claims and counterclaims regarding the case have been dismissed.

We have not received comment from Zynga nor EA about the suit, but instead discovered this information via a filing with the US District Court for the Northern District of California. This suit drop comes at a very interesting time for Zynga, as the company has recently undergone a drastic cut of properties that were bleeding money, largely in part due to the work from COO David Ko at the helm. Earlier this month, Zynga even posted a small profit because of the cuts. Perhaps this might be a small turnaround point for them, as EA looks to restructure as well.

Advertisement

Login to CommentWhat You're Saying

Be the first to comment!

We're live now - Join us!
PLUGHITZ Keyz

Email

Password

Forgot password? Recover here.
Not a member? Register now.
Blog Meets Brand Stats