December 19th, 2008 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Companies & M&A | No Comments »
Most of you probably noticed our reporting on several people in EA Mobile and EA Casual leaving their business behind. Today, we received an official update on EA's restructuring plans.
EA expects their restructuring plan will result in annual cost savings of approximately $120 million and restructuring charges of approximately $55-65 million over the next quarters.
The plan is intended to reduce EA's worldwide work force by approximately 10 percent (1K people). The majority of these actions will be completed by March 31, 2009. This represents a four percent increase from the six percent reduction EA announced on October 30, 2008.
The restructuring also calls for consolidation or closure of at least nine studio and publishing locations. Among the facilities to be consolidated is the Black Box Studio facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Black Box development teams and associated game franchises will move to the nearby EA studio location in Burnaby, British Columbia. We reported on this studio before as it is responsible for the Need for Speed franchise. Clearly the brand will be kept alive through the move.
EA is implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.
