VANCOUVER - Video game maker Electronic Arts is cutting 1,500 jobs or about 17 per cent of its workforce, including a "significant" reduction in staff at one of its Canadian operations.
The company behind such games as "Madden NFL 10" and "Rock Band" said Monday the cuts include closure of several of its facilities across North America and dropping some of its titles, to save it $100 million annually.
A Canadian spokesman for the company said the "reductions are significant" at its operations in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, however the studio will remain open.
EA would not break down the cuts by region or comment specifically on the fate of its operations in Montreal and Edmonton.
Before the layoffs, the company had about 2,700 employees across Canada, including 1,500 in Burnaby, B.C. and the rest in Montreal and Edmonton.
California-based Electronic Arts, also known as EA, said the restructuring is being done to help it focus on higher-profit titles, and as a result of a challenging market for game sales as a result of the recession.
The cuts include 900 in development, 500 in publishing support and 100 from administrative staff.
The cuts are in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company already slashed this year as part of a restructuring plan to shift focus to hit games.
The layoffs came alongside EA's announcement it was buying Playfish Inc., the creator of popular social networking games such as "Who Has the Biggest Brain" and "Pet Society," for US$275 million.
That deal moves EA further into the lucrative world of social online games, which tens of millions of people play on Facebook, MySpace, the iPhone and other platforms.
"We are making tough calls to cut cost in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses," EA chief executive John Riccitiello said Monday.
Also Monday, EA reported a second-quarter loss of US$391 million, or $1.21 a share, 26 per cent wider than the loss from a year earlier.
Net sales fell 12 per cent to $788 million in the July-September period. But sales including deferred revenue from online games grew two per cent to $1.15 billion, inching past Wall Street's expectations.
EA also said it expects to report a net loss for the full fiscal year.
After record retail sales in 2008, the video game industry has faced a tough year as consumers cut back on discretionary spending as a result of the global recession.
The latest cuts come after EA announced at the end of last year that it would slash its workforce by about 10 per cent to save $120 million a year.
At that time, EA also moved its Vancouver-based Black Box Studio, known for the popular driving game "Need For Speed," to its Burnaby facility.
EA said Monday that this latest round of cuts will be complete by March and result in restructuring charges of between $130 to $150 million.
The company had about 9,000 employees and about 31 titles before Monday's announcement.
EA shares were down two per cent to US$19.20 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq Monday.
