EA layoffs hit NBA Elite and Skate 3 dev

EA's laying off a number of staff at NBA Elite and Skate 3 developer EA Canada, according to reports.

Shacknews heard that EA Black Box has also been hit with redundancies. Both studios are based in Vancouver.

The news first emerged when 3D Realm's George Broussard said last night on Twitter that over 100 employees were laid off at EA Canada.

EA has so far refused to quantify the layoffs, or say where they were targeted, but did issue this statement to GamesIndustry.biz:

"As you know, seasonal roll-offs that follow game launches are common - and vital to maintaining a healthy business.

"Because so many of our games ship in the holiday quarter, team size adjustments tend to follow in the same timeframe. At the same time, EA is growing and several of our studios are looking to hire talented people."

The move follows layoffs this time last year and the year before. It's all part of EA's effort to save at least $100 million.

Earlier this week analyst firm Cowan & Company said that a number of high-profile titles from EA were failing to show a long tail at retail, singling out new release EA Sports MMA in particular as being "dead on arrival."

Eurogamer awarded Skate 3 an impressive 8/10 in May.

Last month EA Sports president Peter Moore delayed NBA Elite 11 indefinitely, saying, "This year, we set extremely ambitious goals for our new franchise, NBA Elite. We are creating a game that will introduce several breakthrough features that have been missing from the basketball genre.

"Unfortunately, NBA Elite 11 is not yet ready and we have made a decision to delay next month's launch. We are going to keep working until we're certain we can deliver a breakthrough basketball experience."