EA to shut down Studios - FIFA in doubt? Madden bye bye?!

OPM

OPM

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2 June 2003
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i am not talking about only the pc versions here. rumors are they want to get rid of the madden franchise entirely, as there are only the console versions left. last pc madden was 08. no way i could understand that :SHOCK: must be one of their big seller?

same goes with fifa, i can understand if they stop producing the crappy, crappy pc version. but getting rid of the entire series?

only positive things about that would be: 2K getting back the NFL License might happen and their might be an open spot for somebody take in the football game market. but hell this sounds unrealistic.

ok so this is mainly rumors i picked up from different boards over the net, still pretty worrying stuff

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/11/10/ea-cancels-12-games-lays-off-1500-jobs/1

Electronic Arts has announced plans to make more than 1500 staff redundant by April 2010, as well as the cancellation of at least 12 games that are currently in development. At the same time, the publisher has just bought out PlayFish, developer of popular social networking games for around $300 million USD, according to Gamasutra.

EA hopes to save $100 million USD annually as a result of the lay-offs and cancellations, with the redundancies spread across all devisions. 900 developers, 500 publishing staff and 100 corporate suits are set to go, according to reports.

The studios which will be most heavily affected are EA Redwood, Tiburon, Mythic and EA Black Box.

The news follows on from EA's recently published financial reports, which revealed a net loss of $391 million across the July - September period, an increase of 26 percent compared to the same period in 2008.

"Laying off employees and closing facilities is never pleasant," said EA Chief John Riccitiello. "We have a lot of compassion for those impacted but these cuts are essential for transforming our company.[/i]"

"Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis. And I think you know what those major titles are - all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2 million units or more," he continued.

"After that, we’ve got The Sims and Hasbro, and frankly anything that doesn’t measure up to looking like it can pencil out to be in very high profit contributor and high unit seller got cut from our title slate from this point going forward."
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seems like piracy was a big factor this year and producing madden, even if you sell as much as they do, seems to cost an incredible amount of money and the profit they make is not as high as we expect it to be.

i just hope this is not true, 2 of my favorite titles.
 
As far as I know, FIFA is their best selling game and I seriously doubt they would shut that down, as they make good money of it.

"Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis. And I think you know what those major titles are - all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2 million units or more," he continued.

That sound to me like none of the mayor sports games is at any risk at all.. and particulary not FIFA. "The studios which will be most heavily affected are EA Redwood, Tiburon, Mythic and EA Black Box.". Tiburon makes Madden, right (and some other games obviously, like EA MMA)? If they would shut down FIFA, I would say that EA Canada would be heavily affected if they would cut of their largest team.
 
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No chance in hell of EA chopping major titles like FIFA and Madden. In fact their release says exactly the opposite.

There's nothing 'worrying' at all.
 
I can't see Fifa or Madden being cancelled. Look how well Fifa has sold these past couple of years, particularly the sales figures in the first week this year. As far as I'm aware Fifa was one of the games keeping EA afloat and carrying the burden of the rest of their line-up.

Same with Madden. It's too big and important to be dropped. The exclusive NFL licence must be costly but the game hasn't changed a great deal in the last few years - I doesn't seem like a lot of money has been spent on it. I can't see how it would be making a loss. I would prefer to see 2KSports producing an NFL game but I can't see it happening.

Basically, EA has become a victim of it's own success. They've grown too big too quickly, swallowing up software companies along the way, and their business has become unsustainable, with the recession compounding things. There's plenty of shitty titles to be culled in EA's line-up before they get to Fifa.
 
I could believe them cancelling the pc versions but keeping the console ones. But no way would they dump all of them.
 
The big franchises are at no risk at all, thats where Ea get their money... what theyre are doing to clean up that 1500 jobs is closing marketing/distribution offices around the globe, they closed the brazilian one last month.

They will now hire specialized companies to make marketing and distribution in some contries like here in Brazil.

And just for the record, the WC game is in development, wich shows that theyre not evan thinking about shuting FIFA down.
 
They can shut down/cancel what they like, as long as the Skate and FIFA series stay.
 
Skate isn't a big seller is it?

I read eslewhere that they'll be concentrating on core IP, Medal of Honour is returning next year, where the fuck is SSX Riccitiello?!
 
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