EA loses $310 million in Q209, 6% of employees being let go

HA! I hope it's due to SecuROM, that'll teach the fuckers.

I feel bad for the employees that are going to have to find another job though.

Just like I predicted...If they are smart they will start cutting in the Wii divisions.

Someone got too big for their britches.

Well, that's a shame. I think EA has done a much better job with creating new IP's and not sequel whoring. I hope they continue distancing from the EA of old, as Activision seems to be embracing that new title of the publisher everyone hates.

If they didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to the NFL for its exclusive rights they wouldn't be losing that much money. And NFL games would be better and cheaper for all of us...

Ell Oh Ell

According to my precise calculations, EA would have sold 1 million more units of Spore had they removed SecuROM, and an additional 2 million more units if Spore was good.

That's the best news I've heard all day. With any luck they won't be able to afford the shady fugaze exclusive deal that lead to the complete stagnation of the entirety of videogame football.

Q2 of 2009? I'm no accounting major, but that doesn't sound right.

And if you look at the numbers you will see that a lot of the loss can be found in increased rnd.
The gross profit is actually up.
Anyone who belive that the loss is because of secure rom is just a fool. Lift your head and realize that your message boards are not the same as the reality.

This is great news for EA! Not so much for 6% of its employees.

Thats Ironic They started making good games and lost money? That sux for the guys losing jobs though...Good luck guys you'll bounce back

The more you tighten your grip, EA, the more game systems will slip through your fingers.

weird, because EA came to my school (michigan) early last week to try and recruit fresh blood for both full positions and internships. i went to their "tech talk" and they definitely failed to mention this.

Hmmm...maybe Criterion needs to start charging for DLC?

Actually, their Wii divisions do much better than their PS3 or 360 ones. The cost of a Wii game is low and returns are high, you do the math and as a company, you keep the high profit margin products.

yea, it's tough times these days...

see, either the executives try to justify their ridiculous salaries, in light of recent events, to their stockholders or they simply absolve themselves at the expense of those beneath them. (i.e: they fire hundreds)

not 10, 20 or 50 but over 500. just think about that for a second. over 500 people *bam* fired and kicked aside like yesterday's newspaper. meanwhile, 15 suits on the top floor get to breathe easier knowing their salaries (which range in the tens of millions) are safe because that's all that really matters. hell, for all we know at least half of them could be getting bonuses/raises by the end of the year

do yourself a favor this holiday season and just think about all those people who got tossed before picking up a title from EA.

What about the purchase of Take Two, which I'm not suprised everyone here already forgot about.

I strongly believe the Take Two offer was the one that really did EA in.

Outside of the Spore mess, I think EA has been doing a fantastic job this year. Lots of great new IPs, not just beating a dead horse and ripping off other successful games *cough*Ubisoft*cough*.

Sadly this does suck about the employees, and sucks for me as well as there's enough people lookin for jobs in the gaming industry =P

I'm a low-level EA game developer and if you think you are helping or representing for EA rank-and-file employees in any way by "boycotting" us you're an idiot.

The company does well, EA employees do well. The company loses money, the company shrinks and people lose jobs. That's how the game industry works.

Our quality is up and climbing. We're putting out good new games. Buy them or don't, but don't give me this "i'm sticking up for the poor EA employee" crap because no EA employee would thank you for it.

How can they lose 310 million? halo 3 cost 35 million over 3 years. Even if they are developing 10 games a year, that 100 million in costs every year max. How can they have such a huge loss?

Madden sucks, EA sucks, NBA Live sucks. 2K was going to make a better football game so they bought out the license.

Online play in 09 is retarded.Snowing in texas stadium(dome) Won't penalize kicker on kickoff when playclock has rundown allowing unlimited onside kick nonsense. No accelerated clock so offense can run down clock and leave you with only a few seconds to call the correct play. In real football barring hurry up the right package is almost always on the field with 15-20 seconds. Why not just have accelerated clock, was in the old games. EA is retarded. Kicking doesn't work correctly online either because of lag.

Took out training camp and replaced it with this weird tron vision that is completely useless and stupid, not to mention ruining the role-playing element that made the old games fun. Remember making your player better? No more of that, they really "improved this game"

Even dumber is has inclement weather in domes. So for example I just played an online game where it was snowing in texas stadium, most of the time was spent waiting while the guy ran down the playclock or went in and out of onside kick formation.

Screw you EA, did they even playtest online before they released this game?

Here is SOME good news: EA isn't releasing any jobs from their testing facility in Baton Rouge. Since I work for the city, that's good news for me.