EA to lay off 1500 employees

Ouch. Some very difficult news is coming from Gamasutra today, which just announced that Electronic Arts will cut 1500 jobs by April 2010. It’s being called a cost-cutting strategy (as all layoffs are, really), and it comes hot on the heels of the company’s acquisition of casual/social game publisher Playfish.

From Gamasutra:

“About 1,300 of those layoffs are part of a wide-reaching restructuring plan that will include “the closure of several facilities.” The move, which will cost EA between $130 million and $150 million, is expected to save $100 million annually (just over a fourth of what the company said it lost this quarter).”

Combined with the news about Playfish, this certainly feels like an attempt to go after the lucrative (and more budget-friendly) social/casual gaming space, as opposed to the massive, big-budget titles that EA’s been pushing hard for the last few years. Speculation aside, my condolences to all the folks who have just lost their jobs.

Read [Gamasutra]