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Electronic Arts, the publisher of video games, is laying off 350 people in the areas of marketing, publishing and other areas, this year's last move particularly brutal for the industry video game.
In an email to employees obtained by KotakuAndrew Wilson, director of EA, said the goal would be to streamline decision-making in the marketing and publishing departments after the consolidation that began last year, improve customer support and change some of its international strategies , which includes the closure of offices in Russia and Japan.
"We have the vision of being the largest gaming company in the world," he wrote. "If we are honest with ourselves, we are not here yet. We have work to do with our games, our relationships with players and our company. "
"Across the company, teams are already taking steps to ensure the creation of higher quality live games and services, to cover more platforms with our content and subscriptions, to enhance our Frostbite tools, to target our network and cloud gaming priorities and to bridge the gap between us and our player communities, "he added.
When reached by Kotaku this morning, EA sent the following statement:
Today, we have taken important steps as a company to meet our challenges and prepare for the opportunities that lie ahead for us. When we observe a changing world around us, it is clear that we must change with it. We take deliberate measures to better meet our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players. In this context, we have changed our marketing and publishing organization, our operational teams, and we are reducing our presence in Japan and Russia, because we are focusing on different ways of serving our players in these markets. In addition to organizational changes, we strive to improve the quality of our games and services. Great games will continue to be at the heart of everything we do, and we think differently about how to surprise and inspire our players.
"It's a tough day. The changes we are making today will affect approximately 350 roles in our 9,000-person business. These are important but very difficult decisions, and we do not take them lightly. At EA, we are friends and colleagues. We appreciate and appreciate everyone's contributions. We do everything in our power to ensure that we take care of our employees and help them find their next opportunity throughout this period. It is our top priority. "
Later, an EA representative added that the company would provide severance pay to laid-off employees. "Yes, we are working with employees to try to find other roles within the company," the spokesman said. "For those leaving the company, we will also provide severance and other resources. I am not able to provide the details of the compensation, but we work hard to be as helpful as possible. "
A person working in one of the departments concerned has Kotaku this morning, these layoffs had been pending for some time and EA blocked the marketing of hiring and travel for several months. Marketing and publishing people had been expecting a reorganization since at least October, he added. "I think some people will be relieved to be out of limbo," they said.
This news comes in a year full of massive layoffs in gaming companies, including Activision Blizzard and ArenaNet. Although the video game industry continues to grow, while the Entertainment Software Association has been touting steadily rising revenues, it was a difficult 2019 year for developers and game publishers.
Correction: An earlier version of this article attributed an email to Chris Bruzzo, Marketing Manager at EA. It was actually the CEO of EA, Andrew Wilson. We also changed the title to make it clear that these layoffs had more impact than the marketing and publishing departments.
Additional report by Gita Jackson.
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