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EA Lays Off 350 People In Marketing, Publishing, And More.

I will never celebrate anyone losing their job but hopefully gaming companies can focus on making awesome games instead of "revenue streams" and "recurrent income" and "player 'engagement'"

Sounds like you've ran out of fuel for these monetization implementations. Can I offer you some GaaS? ;)
 

RedVIper

Banned
Shitty game (Anthem) sells a buck load thanks to PR and Marketing, lets fire staff from marketing teams.

Good logic.

The game did not sell a buck load, didn't it make like 100million so far? I doubt that's enough to pay for marketing, and you still have development, I doub't they've seen any profit so far.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
The problem is that there will always be someone who will say that you celebrate resignation simply because you do not support broken games.

Classic apologists. As if the consumer should feel bad because companies spent money before they even earned it and hired way too many people thinking they can squeeze more money out of every player at every turn to finance their bad decisions. No one deserves to lose their job and management is to blame for that situation, not consumers.
 

ethomaz

Banned
As much as I'd like to, I can't call Anthem a flop after its NPD launch results.

It may not have much longevity, of course.

58U7e9F.png
The NPD data support that... less than 1.2m with console digital included won't pay the marketing for the game.

Shitty game (Anthem) sells a buck load thanks to PR and Marketing, lets fire staff from marketing teams.

Good logic.
The game failed by a long margin to reach profitable sales thought... it didn't sold buck load the opposite.

NPD sales were bad.
UK sales abyssal.
Digital revenue low (where most sales come).
 
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Saber

Member
As much I dont wanna support crappie games and bad gaming choices by trash companies, I still feel bad for them. People losing their jobs is not a pretty sight and for me to be just happy for them losing their jobs would make me worse and low than those companies.

We have a lot of people in my country suffering from being unemployed here and although most of them choose supporting the wrong people, still a sad picture.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I hope these layoffs were diverse.
Diverse like who do the job better/efficient stay employed? Because that is the only acceptable way to make layoffs no matter the genre, race or sexual orientation.

Not firing somebody due diversity is a big fail for any company.
 
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Zog

Banned
Today we took some important steps as a company to address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead. As we look across a changing world around us, it’s clear that we must change with it. We’re making deliberate moves to better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players.

Saying nothing with many words.
 

Meowzers

Member
They need to start paying attention to their offline modes in their sports titles.

Career mode on Fifa has been so dull for years now. They still have features on there that are literally the same since Fifa 12. No joke, not even the tiniest of changes.

My problem is with the people at the top. All those people layed off is rather harsh. EA in general are a terrible company.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Obviously I feel sorry for the employees but I also feel sorry for EA. They’re the one developer that goes through hoards of employees, hoard after hoards it seems whenever threatened by poor game launches.
 

hunthunt

Banned
Feel bad for the people working there but gaming as a whole has lost nothing and nothing would be lost if EA closes his doors.
 

Barakov

Member
I definitely feel for those affected. The problem is the management put all their eggs in one basket(GaaS) and now those 300 suffered for it.
 

Starfield

Member
Not happy for individuals to lose work, but if that company crumbled I would probably have a smirk on my face. (Hopefully those people can find work with real human beings now, EA = soulless, imo)
I don't think that EA is a bad place to work at, actually the opposite. It's just their consumer related decisions which are horrible. I'm only guessing though
 

thief183

Member
I'm supposed to say that I'm sorry for the ppl that got layed off... but I'm not, if you decide to work for EA (for whatever reason, good or bad) you get all it came from it.
 
Hey gamers, this is EA PR dept. As usual we have to explain ourselves to the spoiled gaming community who follows our every move. Whereas banks, stores, car companies can fire people by the 1,000s, every time we let go even just one person, we have to explain ourselves.

Just to let you guys feel better, out of the 350 jobs, we are being vague and purposely stating marketing and publishing since you gamers don't like these depts anyway.

Here's a secret. We also let go some developer staff. But to shut you guys up, we didn't state it. If you want to find out who, you'll have to scour Twitter feeds and piece together which dev members got cut.
 
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EDMIX

Member
I don't get why people do this. Why should I feel any sympathy for corporate mules that fucked up badly? Battlefield V sales must've dropped badly for this to happen and the people to blame are the whole company from top to bottom.

Not sure about that. BFV sold about 7.3 million units in 2 months. Not what they expected sure, but not something to fire 350 people for, sounds likely unrelated as I have a hard time believing over 7 million units sold in 2 months is a bad thing... So this sounds like they expected more, not that it didn't do well enough to exist or keep folks hired etc.

By that logic, it would be like Rockstar saying GTAVI failed cause it sold 50 million instead of 100 million or something. When you get to such high millions, they are simply expressing the want more, not that they are closing down based on that number or something lol
 

EDMIX

Member
I will never celebrate anyone losing their job but hopefully gaming companies can focus on making awesome games instead of "revenue streams" and "recurrent income" and "player 'engagement'"

I don't mind them doing that as they are still a business, but they must also look at the market as a whole vs just 1 success like Fortnight, PUBG etc. They still make quality single player games and I think they need to double down on doing that and showing that both concepts can exist. Ubisoft has done a great job of that this gen. It can be done. EA putting a new team on Mass Effect hurt them in many ways as it shows they don't take the concept seriously and thought anyone could just put out a AAA RPG if they had their papers in order so to speak. Bioware might have wanted to do a online MMO thing and a history of doing them like with KOTOR ONLINE, but they should have just let that team actually do Anthem (in terms of networking) and it wouldn't have been as bad as we are seeing.

So EA needs to put as much effort as we've seen them put in other IP, in actual single player IP. They have them, they simply don't roll out the red carpet and fireworks when they are being made. I respect them for trying a new IP as lots don't, but I have to ask.

Would they be spending so much on marketing and a budget if it was a single player game? So getting rid of Jade and Amy just made no sense as, EA had the lemons.

The simply knew not of making lemonade.

Uncharted is a massive success
Assassins creed is a massive success.

Both single player IP.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Fuck Andrew Wilson with his wording saying they made changes to 350 "roles".

No, they were PEOPLE that were let go. Very dehumanizing.
 
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Honestly, as far as I am concerned, being laid off in an industry where there are plenty of jobs can very well be a good thing, both for them and their careers.



This has been my experience.
 
Honestly, as far as I am concerned, being laid off in an industry where there are plenty of jobs can very well be a good thing, both for them and their careers.



This has been my experience.
For sure. I was let go from my job 15 years ago. Best thing that ever happened to me. Got a job a month later, better pay, better company and better coworkers and bosses. And after that stint, my current company is even better.

People always look at the negatives.

People who have good qualifications and a will to look for another job (instead of sitting around depressed and sleeping in till noon) should always look at layoffs as a sign of opportunity..... as it now gets you off your ass and seek out new jobs you would never have noticed if employed.

Also, when it comes to big companies (like EA), and the types of jobs they let go (doesn't sound like minimum wage Q&A testers to me), you also get a severance package. In many companies, you should get around 3 weeks (roughly) per year of service. That guy who was working at EA for 10 years I bet got a package for roughly 8 months salary. Not too shabby. And the higher level job you have at more years, the more you get.
 
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Unpopular opinion here, i dont want to sound like an asshole, but EA marketing and PR is a disaster, Apex legend even have a surprise release because respawn say they cant trust pr and marketlng, maybe New blood Will help
 

Enjay

Banned
Jeez ppl here acting like a Dickensian workhouse was closed and doomed these people to lives of homelessness and starvation. They were talented enough to be overpaid by EA, they will land on their feet somehow.
 

NikuNashi

Member
I guess the majority of those laid off were white, heterosexual males. EA hang your head in shame, time for some diversity layoff equality training.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
EA foreshadowed this in their last financial report to shareholders. If you filter through the corporate waffle, you get:

- The last financial year had too many bomba games.
- Restructuring the company to ensure this doesn’t happen again is the plan.
- The result is a massive culling of the PR and marketing departments.

Translation: “We realise now that if you get woke, you will almost certainly go broke. So, we are trying not to do that now.”
 

DCDW

Member
When the marketing dept for BFV tells their player base "Don't buy our game" due to how the game was marketed and continues to stear into that skid the entire way through to release, layoffs from the marketing department were inevitable IMO. BFV is a solid and competent game, where a mere nudge in marketing calling the game an authentic WW2 experience to calling it an alternate WW2 reality where the war drags on longer than it actually did and women were eventually conscripted due to a shortage of fighters from the war continuing past the point it did in history, would've given them complete freedom to do whatever they wanted.
 
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People losing their jobs always sucks and all the best to them. But its these marketing fuckers that are chopping up parts of the games to sell to you later, that keep showing us bullshots/features in games that don't even exist in the actual game that gets released. Especially EA marketing.
 

Mista

Banned
The lay offs recently in the gaming industry is scary. I don’t remember this much of lay offs in the whole history of gaming
Well you don't need to pay people in marketing when you can just give some random youtuber a million for shilling your game.
This is spot on.
 

GenericUser

Member
The lay offs recently in the gaming industry is scary. I don’t remember this much of lay offs in the whole history of gaming
I remember the time around 2006-2007 where a studio was being shut down almost every month or so. Good luck to all the people laid off.
 
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I don't know about other areas, but the marketing crowd for sure should be fired. Marketing and corporate communication at EA are top level incompetence.
 

McHuj

Member
EA foreshadowed this in their last financial report to shareholders. If you filter through the corporate waffle, you get:

- The last financial year had too many bomba games.
- Restructuring the company to ensure this doesn’t happen again is the plan.
- The result is a massive culling of the PR and marketing departments.

Translation: “We realise now that if you get woke, you will almost certainly go broke. So, we are trying not to do that now.”


Yes, anyone who works for any company that is underperforming needs to be weary of their job and frankly should try to jump sooner than get cut in a potential layoff.

At my previous two jobs, I was able to jump ship before the layoffs simply by paying close attention to how the company is doing now and what the outlook is for the future. Everyone needs to do this for their sake.
 
The game did not sell a buck load, didn't it make like 100million so far? I doubt that's enough to pay for marketing, and you still have development, I doub't they've seen any profit so far.
It is thebest sellibg bioware game ever. Financially, it is very succesful
 

Shifty

Member
EA statement said:
in what’s been a brutal year for the gaming industry.
A brutal year for clueless AAA publishers, you mean.

Meanwhile I'm over here on a metaphorical beach drinking a pina colada and enjoying some of the finest games Capcom and From Software have ever put out.

What a good year for videogames.
 
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betrayal

Banned
I'm sorry for the people, but EA releasing marketing people probably means EA's marketing will improve during the next few years.
 

Zannegan

Member
Sadly, I get the feeling that when he says they have to work on their games, player relationships, and business he's planning something very different from what I'd hope. =/
 
sucks people lost their jobs but companies can do whatever they want that is best for them. in california it's "At will" employment... so whenever these layoffs happen its really not a big deal to me. it's part of life. if you have a certain skillset, you can find another job.... if you don't well... that's on you. that's globalization.
 
So a game that spends 200m on marketing and makes 100m is more suceful than a game that spend 20mil and make 50m?
Success isn't measured just by how much money it made.
100m in a month*

And you know these types of games are made to get continuous revenue. Unless something crazy happens, anthem will make a lot of money.
 
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