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Report: Electronic Arts Closes Phenomic Studio
The bad news continues at EA. Today, it's EA Phenomic, the studio behind Spellforce and Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances, on the chopping block.
GamesIndustry International reports that Electronic Arts has shuttered EA Phenomic, letting go of 60 employees. GamesIndustry International learned of the studio closing through sources close to the situation. EA did not comment specifically about Phenomic when asked, but offered this more general statement which seems to indicate that Phenomic has indeed been closed:
"As part of EA's realignment in recent weeks, we have announced internally a small adjustment to some development staff to better focus our teams against priority growth areas. The decision to let people go is not something we take lightly and we are working to ensure that impacted employees are treated fairly and with respect for their contributions to EA, and with assistance to find other job opportunities. These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us."
EA Phenomic was founded in 1997 as Phenomic Game Development, and was originally known for the Spellforce franchise. It was acquired by EA in 2006, and had been focused on real-time strategy games in the free-to-play market, including Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances.
This is another in a long line of studio closings and layoffs conducted at Electronic Arts this year. Other EA divisions that have been hit in recent months include EA Partners, EA Montreal, and EA Playfish and EA Hyderabad.
[Source: GamesIndustry International]
Our Take
This is the type of new that we have to report on far too often these days. Firstly, we'd like to send our thoughts to all those at EA Phenomic who lost their jobs. This is obviously a company in the midst of a painful period of transition. What was once the world's largest game company is a whole lot smaller than it was just six months ago. While this news is depressing, let's hope that the end result is an EA that is leaner, more focused, and more profitable.
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