After failing to meet it’s financial targets in the last quarter, now, EA shuts EA Mobile Montreal. This closure has generated a number of layoffs. According to the company, for now EA is particularly focusing in developing games for new platforms and mobiles, and to become a more efficient organization reducing the team size is quite necessary in some cases. The officials also added that the decision was difficult, and to dismiss the bunch of employees who have contributed to the growth of the company was disheartening, but this was necessary to reduce the operative expenses that the company has to bear.
As per the reports of Joystiq, around 60 to 70 permanent employees and around 100 working under the EA’s contract system were laid off by this decision. According to the management, company has always tried to relocate and retain employees whenever possible, but this time this lay off was inevitable for the better prospect of the company. The dismissed work force mainly contributes to the quality assurance section of the company, and now it is only the cleaned up tables in the office that welcome a visitor. Streamlining processes most of the times result in job cuts and according to the company this lay off was necessary to facilitate the streamlining of the company as the salaries of the employees contribute a substantial part to the expenses of the company.
In this context, it is to be mentioned that, John Reccitiello, the former CEO of the company resigned in the last month after accepting his responsibility for the slumping financials of the company. In his last letter to the company, he had mentioned that the company has reached a low end off or might be even below that, and the company has fallen short of the internal operating plans set in the last year. This lay off certainly stands true for every word of his letter and shows the condition of the tech giant in reality.
In a situation when the company has to lay off the permanent employees, it is bearing an expense of $1.03 million a year as a compensation of the interim CEO Larry Probst, which is sure to raise eyebrows in the business world.