EA will see even more layoffs after $641 million loss in Q3 2008

As bad as EA thought it was, now it’s worse. The company posted a $641 million loss for the holiday quarter ending December 31, 2008, as opposed to $33 million for the same period in 2007.

GameDaily reports the publisher will lay off 1,100 and close 12 facilities. In addition to the forecast of a loss for fiscal year 2009, EA expects to incur restructuring charges of $65-75 million, including paying severance to employees and closing facilities. You know it’s a bloodletting when it costs you nearly $80 million just to lay everyone off.

Apparently sales for the quarter went up slightly, from $1.5 billion to $1.65 billion, but retailers just aren’t ordering as many copies of games as everybody hurts in this economy. EA’s February 4, 2009, earnings call wasn’t all bad news, as the publisher did confirm sequels for Mass Effect and Battlefield:Bad Company. EA CEO John Riccitiello said the company’s business will now be divided into PC, PS3 and 360 games, and Nintendo Wii games.

That’s right, Wii is its own priority at EA as the company tries to make up the ground it lost by ignoring the console at launch.

But will it be enough to simply say oh, we’re doing a bunch of Wii games now? No More Heroes, for example, was such an innovative title because it made unique use of the WiiMote. Gamers got to use it as a cellphone and a lightsab- um, energy sword. That was a game clearly designed for the Wii from the ground up. You can spot the difference between that kind of game and a shabby port of a PS3 or 360 game from a mile away. I guess we’ll see soon enough.

Read [Game Daily] Also Read [Technologizer]