Statements made by EA confirm that layoffs have hit a number of EA studios today, including Visceral Montreal and staff at a Los Angeles location.
There are also multiple, yet unconfirmed, reports that EA has shut down Visceral Montreal completely. The studio was hard at work on Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel when the news broke. Statements were made both by an EA spokesperson and by EA's Frank Gibeau on the company's website.
Visceral Montreal was a branch studio of Visceral Games, the company behind the just released Dead Space 3. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel was slated for release in March, though there's no saying if that still holds true.
There are also multiple, yet unconfirmed, reports that EA has shut down Visceral Montreal completely. The studio was hard at work on Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel when the news broke. Statements were made both by an EA spokesperson and by EA's Frank Gibeau on the company's website.
"Today EA internally announced some adjustments to select development teams to align staff and skills against priority growth areas, including new technologies and mobile. Many employees are being retrained for new positions; however a small number will be released. These are great, talented people and we wish them well. EA is growing globally, and we expect our headcount to increase this year." - EA Spokesperson
"EA’s leadership on these high-growth platforms allows us to retain and attract the industry’s best talent. Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives. But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance. This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job." - Frank Gibeau
"EA’s leadership on these high-growth platforms allows us to retain and attract the industry’s best talent. Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives. But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance. This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job." - Frank Gibeau
Visceral Montreal was a branch studio of Visceral Games, the company behind the just released Dead Space 3. Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel was slated for release in March, though there's no saying if that still holds true.