Bantha Fodder hits the Fan! EA to lay off 11% of its workforce
Just like Governor Tarkin to Vader “…Continue with the operation; you may fire when ready.” In reference of Alderaan. EA is floundering to point fingers after being voted the most hated company in America in Forbes 2012.
Even though sales were nice for 2011 hit games like Battlefield 3, the sales were not able to cover the huge spending on marketing, Popcap acquisitions (think Flash i.e. Angry Birds), CFOs jumping ship,
or big-budget MMOs like Star Wars: Old Republic, according to the report of Startup Grind, “…As of March 31 public numbers, that represents between 5%-11% of total company employees.”
In Feb The Wall Street Journal had articles speculating throwing more money at it may not help:
‘We are not entirely convinced,” wrote Todd Mitchell of Brean Murray on Thursday. Mitchell had cut his price target on EA last month, citing worries about the performance of “Star Wars.” He said the company’s disclosure that it plans to increase marketing to support the title in the March quarter “is tacit acknowledgment of an uncertain outlook.’
Marketwatch, The Wall Street Journal
Instead of firing the marketing team or top heads that make those decisions, Electronic Arts will give the boot to almost 1000 workers as soon as this coming week. Startup Grind is geared for tech companies, but threw the Bantha fodder on this!
A lot of Fan response, such as the images here, have been on the net.
EA has released no responses, new DLC to explain it away, or PR as of yet.
No Comments