Electronic Arts has detailed the radical business changes – first announced last night – which will see it lay off 1500 staff by the end of March 2010 and reduce the number of blockbuster titles it releases each year.

Speaking during a conference call to investors, chief financial officer John Brown clarified that 900 positions in game development will go, 500 jobs in publishing and 100 at corporate level, in a bid to to save USD 100 million annually.

“Laying off employees and closing facilities is never pleasant,” offered John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts. “We have a lot of compassion for those impacted but these cuts are essential for transforming our company. Our operating expenses will be reduced by at least USD 100 million compared to our current run rate.”

Although solid details on teams affected have not yet been addressed, it’s believed Black Box, Redwood Shores, Tiburon and Mythic have all been hit, and the publisher has said it will close “several” facilities down entirely.

“We think the cuts we have made are very, very aggressive. We’ve cut teams, we’ve cut corporate, we’ve cut overhead, we’ve cut publishing but not to the point of hampering ourselves,” added Riccitiello.

As well as letting staff go, EA plans to reduce its portfolio of titles, with Riccitiello suggesting that around 12 unannounced projects in various stages of development have been cancelled.

“Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis. And I think you know what those major titles are – all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2 million units or more,” he detailed.

“After that, we’ve got The Sims and Hasbro, and frankly anything that doesn’t measure up to looking like it can pencil out to be in very high profit contributor and high unit seller got cut from our title slate from this point going forward.

“So it is really, in a way, if you could array our title slate up knowing what we did about what we would have otherwise brought to market, we cut the bottom third of it.”

Source :   http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/ea-details-job-losses-and-cancelled-projects