Electronic Arts today revealed that it has decided to reorganize its Vancouver-based teams, resulting in a "small number" of layoffs in that division.
Electronic Arts has laid off what it's calling a "small number" of employees at its Vancouver branch as part of a restructuring effort to focus more on its digital content. With the move, EA said it hopes to better align its Vancouver branch with the company's current focus on digital, online, and free to play games, reports Industry Gamers. While technically located just outside of Vancouver in Burnaby, British Colombia, this branch is home to the teams behind the incredibly popular FIFA franchise, the Need for Speed: The Run and Need for Speed World developer EA Black Box, and more -- EA has not confirmed which of these teams were affected by the recent layoffs. Addressing the reorganization, an EA spokesperson said, "EA in Vancouver is transforming its studio to align with EA's transformation to high-growth digital formats, including online, social gaming and free-to-play." "… As the BC studio makes this transformation, a small number of employees are being impacted while most others are being retrained, redeployed and rolling-on to new projects." During its recent quarterly earnings report, EA reported that it brought in $1 billion in revenue from its digital initiatives in 2011, driven in part by the success of Star Wars: The Old Republic and the launch of the Origin distribution platform. In January, EA also restructured and dissolved its EA Interactive branch following the departure of division head Barry Cottle. Gamasutra has contacted EA for further comment but has not heard back as of this writing.
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