Electronic Arts to shut down 12 offices

Electronic Arts has announced plans to shut down 12 facilities and make 11 per cent of its workforce redundant - amounting to 1100 members of staff.

The news comes after the publisher released a financial report for the third quarter, showing a USD 641 million loss. That's a big old increase over the loss for the same quarter last year, which stood at USD 33 million.

The redundancies will affect everyone from low-level staff and managers to directors and VPs, according to EA, in locations around the globe. The company is also planning to take advantage of more low-cost locations, and has reduced the number of games in its portfolio to 50 for the 2010 financial year.

CEO John Riccitiello described the results as "a clear disappointment", admitting that EA didn't make as much money at Christmas as had been expected. However, he continued, it wasn't for want of trying.

"We delivered on game quality and innovation in calendar 2008, with 13 titles rated 80 or above - more than any third-party publisher," said the EA boss.

"We expect to build on this great quality record in the year ahead while delivering more profitability."

The best-selling EA game of the quarter was FIFA 09 with 7.8 million copies shifted. Need for Speed Undercover also did well (5.2 million), as did Littlest Pet Shop (2.8 million).

The company also reported that MMO Warhammer Online ended the quarter with 300,000 paying subscribers.