Not even 24 hours after we reported on the impending layoffs at Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet, another studio belonging to Electronic Arts is now undergoing layoffs itself.
Australian studio FireMonkeys, which was founded in 2012 after EA merged IronMonkey Studios and FireMint, has this week started a massive round of layoffs at the company. As first reported on by Kotaku Australia, employees at FireMonkeys were informed of the impending layoffs earlier this week. Those who were affected by the layoffs were told in private meetings while those who are still with the company were told via larger group meetings. FireMonkeys previously staffed close to 200 employees and these layoffs have impacted somewhere in the realm of 80 to 100 of them.
Even for those that are staying at FireMonkeys though, the general consensus around the studio remains dire. According to one source who spoke to Kotaku, they fear that it’s only a matter of time until the studio as a whole is shuttered. They went on to also say that they’re uncertain of how some tasks at FireMonkeys can go on considering who has been lost due to the layoffs.
As for what FireMonkeys will be doing moving forward, EA gave the following statement:
“The FireMonkeys studio is working on some of our most popular mobile games. We recently made a decision to shift teams to focus more on our live services, and have entered into a consultation period that may impact some roles in the studio. 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.”
It has been an incredibly rough month in the gaming industry that has seen far too many people lose their jobs. From the aforementioned layoffs that seem to be transpiring at ArenaNet, to the Activision-Blizzard layoffs that affected around 800 employees earlier this month, layoffs have started to become a weekly occurrence it seems which is more than upsetting.
Our best goes out to all of those at FireMonkeys affected by these layoffs.
The post EA’s Australian Studio FireMonkeys is Now Experiencing Layoffs of Its Own by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.