By Austin Wilson | @TheAustinPost1
Videogame publisher Electronic Arts has laid off a quarter of the staff at FireMonkeys Studio in Melbourne, Australia.
FireMonkeys studio was created after a merge between IronMonkeyStudios and FireMint in 2012 and is one of the largest developer studios in Australia. The studio focuses primarily on mobile games and is responsible for some of EA's most popular mobile games such as Need For Speed: No Limits and Real Racing 3.
FireMonkeys had a staff of around 200 and Game Workers United Australia confirmed the number of staff being terminated to be between 40 to 50 people. EA is terminating staff in a bid to change the studios focus from mobile games to live services.
"The FireMonkeys studio is working on some of our most popular mobile games. We recently made the decision to shift teams to focus more on our live services, and entered a consultation period that may impact some roles in the studio," EA said in a statement to Kotaku Australia, "We're working to match skills with opportunities as we go through this period, identifying other opportunities at EA, and providing as much help to our employees as we possibly can."
Electronic Arts CEO, Andrew Wilson, has been vocal in his desire to direct the company's efforts on live services such as their new golden goose, Apex Legends.
EA's new live service game, Apex Legends
The layoffs hit the game development industry in Australia hard and Game Workers United Australia says that the lay offs are a "devastating blow" and makes up almost 5% of the entire Australian game developer industry.
"This is a devastating blow to the industry," GWU Australia stated in response to the layoffs, "an extraordinarily disappointing decision which will affect the already crowded local freelancer and indie market, as well as undergraduate student body."
The FireMonkeys studio layoffs are happening shortly after Activision-Blizzard terminated 800 non-developer staff in a company-wide reorganization effort.
Although it's a short-term solution and ultimately harms the industry, investors see layoffs as a positive and Activision saw a huge increase in stock prices after announcing the layoffs.
EA stock increased after the surprise release of Apex Legends
EA stock soared after the release of Apex Legends and is most likely trying to reassure investors that they plan to continue to focus on the game success as well as replicate it by restructuring existing studios like FireMonkeys to focus on live service content.
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