Electronic Arts Closes EA Phenomic - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 15 July 2013 / 5,393 Views
Electronic arts has closed EA Phenomic, according to a statement released by EA that was received by GamesIndustry International. The studio had 60 employees and developed such titles as Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances and Spellforce.
"As part of EA's realignment in recent weeks, we have announced internally a small adjustment to some development staff to better focus our teams against priority growth areas," said a statement from EA.
"The decision to let people go is not something we take lightly and we are working to ensure that impacted employees are treated fairly and with respect for their contributions to EA, and with assistance to find other job opportunities."
"These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us."
The studio was founded in 1997 by Volker Wertich and was called Phenomic Game Development. The studio was acquired by EA in 2006 and was renamed EA Phenomic. The studio focused on developing strategy games, as well as free-to-play titles. The EA representative has stated that the publisher is not going to shift away from strategy or free-to-play games.
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bashes Nintendo
Lays off lots Employees while Nintendo doesn't
see what happens when you mess with the big N? XD
Its just like EA to buy up studio just to close them down a few years later......
one way of having less competition I guess :S
EA is like half of any xboxes game sales no EA means microsoft dies
I smell EA's impending doom. Not that I'm happy (it's sad to see people losing their jobs) but this is what you get for thinking that you can be successful by constantly developing titles without a balancing budgets. They better think of something fast.
I never understood what the point in buying and then closing a studio is.
I mean when you close it its gone why not just let it go and let it be a "free" studio again? Whats the point in destroying peoples lives?
Seriously industries not only gaming industries are stupid.
This concerns me. What happens if a really big game 'flops' (which in the current industry seems to mean selling less than 4 million units)? I have a feeling that a failed Call of Duty or Battlefield game could just about destroy a AAA publisher. Especially EA after this news.
EA seems has been laying off people left and right. It's a probably a sign that they are not in the best financial situation right now.
