Latest News
spacer View All spacer
 
February 10, 2010
 
Analysts: EA On The Right Track At Last
 
GamesBeat@GDC Confirms OnLive, GameStop, PlayStation Home Speakers
 
Ubisoft Q3 Sales Edge Down, As It Ramps Up Big Franchises
spacer
Latest Features
spacer View All spacer
 
February 10, 2010
 
arrow Television, Meet Games
 
arrow Two Halves, Together: Patrick Gilmore On Double Helix [1]
 
arrow The Road To Hell: The Creative Direction of Dante's Inferno [20]
spacer
Latest Blogs
spacer View All     Post     RSS spacer
 
February 10, 2010
 
Lineage 2 Interview - 'Freya Update Is Just a Beginning' - Pt.2
 
Fixing the GDC 2010 Schedule Builder [3]
 
Swashbuckling for Landlubbers: Why you may already be encouraging piracy! [20]
spacer
Latest Jobs
spacer View All     Post a Job     RSS spacer
 
February 10, 2010
 
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Programmer
 
THQ
Animator - Motion Builder (contract)
 
LucasArts
Senior Systems Designer
 
Trion Redwood City
<b>Sr. Brand Manager</b>
 
Telltale Games
Game Designer
 
Telltale Games
Senior Software Engineer - Core Technology
 
Airtight Games
IT System Administrator
 
Roblox
Apple Game Engineer - Kids' Virtual World
spacer
About
spacer News Director:
Leigh Alexander
Features Director:
Christian Nutt
Editor At Large:
Chris Remo
Advertising:
John 'Malik' Watson
Recruitment/Education:
Gina Gross
 
Feature Submissions
About
spacer If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these Think Services sites:

Game Career Guide (for student game developers.)

Indie Games (for independent game players/developers.)

Finger Gaming (news, reviews, and analysis on iPhone and iPod Touch games.)

GamerBytes (for the latest console digital download news.)

Worlds In Motion (discussing the business of online worlds.)

Game Set Watch (the Group's alt.game weblog.)
News

  EA Lowers Estimates, Plans Cuts As Sales Underperform
by Leigh Alexander
7 comments
Share RSS
 
 
December 9, 2008
 
EA Lowers Estimates, Plans Cuts As Sales Underperform
Advertisement
Electronic Arts says holiday sales across North America and Europe have not met expectations, and thus neither will its 2009 financial results.

To compensate, EA says it'll cut titles from its slate for next year, reduce headcount and consolidate facilities, although it didn't further specify those cost reduction plans.

"While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, we are disappointed that our holiday slate is not meeting our sales expectations," said EA CEO John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, also citing the "uncertain economic environment" as motive for the planned cost reduction.

"While we are cutting costs, we remain committed to investing in great game quality, in new properties and in our direct-to-consumer initiatives," Riccitiello added. "We will be launching several new titles and online games in fiscal 2010."

Although Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian recently said he felt EA was positioned to weather the downturn, he also lowered his own estimates for EA. The analyst suggested that Mirror's Edge and Need For Speed were underperforming, and predicted further cost reductions for EA beyond the 600 layoffs the publisher announced at the end of October.
 
   
 
Comments

Mike Lopez
profile image
I noticed how much of EA's first round layoffs were inflicted on Pandemic. So much for Mr. Riccatello's earlier claim that this is the "new EA" that is not just looking to assimilate, chew up and spit out new developers for their IP and not their personnel.

What are the chances this next round also heavily impacts other assimilated studios?

Alan Rimkeit
profile image
I second that sentiment. Looks like the Borg EA is still running at full steam. I wonder how over time pay is being handled by EA these days.

This is the very reason I am glad that EA did not eat Take Two. Absorb, digest, absorb, digest. How very sad for all those hard working people.

Lo Pan
profile image
It would be nice to see the Executive take a hit (take ownership) in these cases. The pattern of 'we screwed up, so your fired' never ends with US companies. John, how about your fire some Execs who mis-forcast and did not manage well?

J Y
profile image
*nelson laugh*

haw haw EA, you put all your best games on the HD systems and still got your ass kicked by nintendo. I dont want boom blox, there should have been wii versions of those HD action games you put out.

Brent Harmon
profile image
The current landscape gets scarier...I'm quite sorry to hear about the cuts planned at EA.

The death of PS2 (PSP too, from some perspectives) and the costly development of New Gen, coupled with the horrific economic times we're enduring... makes ours a scary industry to be a part of.

Brent Harmon
profile image
The current landscape gets scarier...I'm quite sorry to hear about the cuts planned at EA.

The death of PS2 (PSP too, from some perspectives) and the costly development of New Gen, coupled with the horrific economic times we're enduring... makes ours a scary industry to be a part of.

Da Man
profile image
Come on. We all know, this is about money. I don't think anyone at EA's management just loves to fire people. They need to make profit. That's what a company is all about. I haven't hear of an inborn right to work in the video game industry, neither of a duty to do so. This is a hard industry and times are getting harder.
I'd rahter see EA lay off few people now instead of going bankrupt, which would mean far more people losing their jobs. And: EA's individual developers are all far-above-average talents. They will find new jobs.


none
 
Comment:
 


Submit Comment