EA loses $310 million in Q209, 6% of employees being let go
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 30th 2008 at 6:00PM }
Unfortunately, EA's continuing hard times will impact its employees. The company plans to let go of 6% of its work force, which amounts to about 600 jobs. The next two quarters are when EA normally really starts bringing in the cash -- not that it'll mean much to those who'll be unemployed soon.
[Via GameDaily]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
WorMzy @ Oct 30th 2008 6:05PM
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.
Doug @ Oct 30th 2008 6:46PM
What if they were the ones responsible for using SecuROM?
WorMzy @ Oct 30th 2008 7:07PM
Then I hope a camel pisses on them.
BananaBoat @ Oct 31st 2008 12:15AM
Well, they lost a pretty large amount of sales due to people boycotting any game with Securom on it (not just spore). In an industry this large though, I highly doubt that we had a 310 million dollar impact. My best guess is that some licensed titles (movie tie in) didn't sell nearly as well as EA hoped for.
Shagittarius @ Oct 30th 2008 6:05PM
Just like I predicted...If they are smart they will start cutting in the Wii divisions.
Shagittarius @ Oct 30th 2008 6:10PM
Nov 2, 2007
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/02/analyst-ea-financial-troubles-are-only-beginning/
Markez @ Oct 30th 2008 7:56PM
Doing a great job patting yourself on the back, kudos, must be a real high for you.
I think Poisoned Al's response then is as applicable now as it was then "Yes of course Shag, throwing money at a machine only a few people bought is a sound business model in the strange, bizarro universe you come from."
I didn't see where in EA's release they pointed out that putting out Wii games was the reason they're being negatively impacted financially, and why that'll save them so much money going forward, did you?
And to excerpt another news resource on the topic, maybe this has something to do with it? "cancellations like EA LA's Tiberium and the delays of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Pandemic's Saboteur and Lord of the Rings: Conquest as having an impact on revenue"
Moptimus Slime @ Oct 30th 2008 8:08PM
Totally Agree! The Wii just hasn't sold enough stateside to justify putting time and effort into developing good games for it. I mean, its install base is nowhere near the high powered PS3 or Xbox 360, so developing for it is as retarded as the "casual gamers" who buy the idiot box.
Besides, the only way to stop losing money is to spend more money developing games! That way, people will feel sorry for you and purchase it, no matter how mediocre it might be (sup, Mercs 2?)
hahnchen @ Oct 30th 2008 8:58PM
I hate to burst in on your little circle jerk. But you're way off the mark.
During the earnings call, EA was asked by an analyst specifically why their Wii revenues weren't as strong as other divisions. Reasons for it were the delay of Harry Potter, and the fact that FIFA Wii, is coming out Q3 instead of Q2. FIFA is EA's biggest selling title in Europe.
They're going to continue to focus on the Wii.
----
And you say "just as I predicted" like it means anything. This was exactly what everyone had predicted, analyst expectation believed their earnings per share this quarter to be -0.06, which it was, exactly.
Shagittarius @ Oct 31st 2008 11:46AM
I will continue to accurately predict the future of those who support the evil Wii reguardless of how much Wii fanboys QQ.
hahnchen @ Oct 31st 2008 3:33PM
Then you should start investing, you'd make a bomb. But your aversion to facts and reality would probably trip you up at some point.
As much as you'd like to see every developer and publisher out there abandon this generation's most successful platform, and start Dreamcast development, it isn't going to happen.
Duke @ Oct 30th 2008 6:06PM
Someone got too big for their britches.
OMGOMG @ Oct 30th 2008 6:07PM
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.
DoctorWho @ Oct 30th 2008 6:10PM
I for one am GLAD for this (minus the poor folks losing their jobs). As a PC gamer I am outraged at the crap EA has pulled with SecuROM and DRM lately and they DESERVE this.
FAIL.
Haggard @ Oct 30th 2008 10:38PM
I share your concern but frankly I hope they stay in business, they just stop being asshats about DRM.
Dante G @ Oct 30th 2008 6:21PM
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...
Superstar90 @ Oct 30th 2008 8:23PM
I miss NFL 2K series :(
Haggard @ Oct 30th 2008 10:40PM
I'd imagine they make the money back on Madden sales. I bet Facebreaker is a contributing factor here.
BBF Epic @ Oct 30th 2008 7:27PM
Ell Oh Ell
WiiFTW @ Oct 30th 2008 6:23PM
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.
Esat Dedezade @ Oct 30th 2008 7:37PM
No kidding.
According to my calculations this free online flash game; http://armorgames.com/play/2258/microbe-kombat
is 100% more engaging that the first stage of spore. I'm not spamming, I didn't make the game, but its quite fun, free and better than the shallow crap spore's first stage gave you.
juju187 @ Oct 30th 2008 8:48PM
spore is shallow period.....
Ryan LN @ Oct 30th 2008 6:25PM
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.
Kokomadeta @ Oct 30th 2008 6:32PM
Q2 of 2009? I'm no accounting major, but that doesn't sound right.
Deric Lee @ Oct 30th 2008 7:19PM
In the business world their new year starts at the end of March.
So Q4 2008 would be the quarter from December 31st to March 31st.
Joppe @ Oct 30th 2008 6:35PM
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.
mcatrage @ Oct 30th 2008 7:23PM
and we should all be thankful thats true.
Haggard @ Oct 31st 2008 12:03AM
Indeed - while DRM is idiotic, the people who "pirated spore to get back at EA" and the ones who proclaimed "victory! spore is the most torrented game ever!" are equally minor on the evolutionary scale.
Aaliq @ Oct 30th 2008 6:36PM
This is great news for EA! Not so much for 6% of its employees.
ExMcCloud @ Oct 30th 2008 6:54PM
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
Lone Starr @ Oct 30th 2008 6:56PM
The more you tighten your grip, EA, the more game systems will slip through your fingers.
a ham sandwich @ Oct 30th 2008 7:35PM
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.
Kspraydad @ Oct 30th 2008 7:56PM
Hmmm...maybe Criterion needs to start charging for DLC?
Thierry @ Oct 30th 2008 8:07PM
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.
Mr Khan @ Oct 31st 2008 11:40AM
Good returns as a percentage, lower revenue.
Which means they have no reason to abandon Wii development, but gives them little incentive to step up their game there either.
carg0 @ Oct 30th 2008 8:57PM
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.
Orangecoke @ Oct 30th 2008 11:35PM
"do yourself a favor this holiday season and just think about all those people who got tossed before picking up a title from EA."
yyyyyeah but there's still *plenty* of good, hard working people employed by EA whos jobs depend on people "picking up a title by EA."
carg0 @ Oct 31st 2008 1:48AM
you're absolutely right and that's why im only suggesting you 'think hard' before you buy. im not deliberately saying "don't buy" for that very reason.
it's no black or white issue im afraid with a clear answer in sight but we should all be aware of the real question which is:
"for this EA game im about to buy, will my purchase validate and honor those who worked on it or is it merely going towards those who just had several hundred fired on a whim to make room for their own exorbitent salaries? and if not this game, then perhaps the next. so am i, in essence, partly to blame myself? should i give a damn about how a company treats it's own employees so long as im happy with their product?"
it's a question a lot of us like to avoid. (except me, of course, 'cause im too damn smart and sexy, plus my hair is perfectly feathered)
i mean, i want Dead Space too but not from a company that obviously can't see the difference between "employee" and "disposable commodity". i'll be renting instead...
deadrody @ Oct 31st 2008 7:57AM
Mmmmm... Nice bit of class warfare there carg0. Jealous much ?
Of course the evil CEOs are all out to fire each and every last employee so their salary can remain high. They should just give you an honorary MBA since you are so ultra smart.
Frostybolts @ Oct 31st 2008 4:35PM
ah, I don't think there's anything we can do about the way the business world works
At least our lords nowadays can't do anything worse than fire us serfs, at which point we can generally go find a new lord
Squirrel3D @ Oct 31st 2008 7:37PM
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.
Thief @ Oct 31st 2008 1:54AM
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
bobzrunkl @ Oct 31st 2008 1:13PM
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.
Will @ Oct 31st 2008 2:26PM
Who said it has to do anything with you low-level employees? No one is talking about you.
Usually we just don't like SecuROM.
Every comment here has been "Good, maybe they'll improve quality! Oh, and too bad about those employees."
colinbell @ Oct 31st 2008 4:26PM
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?
Goose @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:22PM
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?
JDT4BR @ Nov 3rd 2008 3:27PM
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.