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Update #2: Visceral Montreal Employee Confirms Entire Staff Let Go
Update #2: An employee at Visceral Montreal has confirmed to us that the entire studio has been laid off.
A former employee at Visceral Montreal who has asked to remain anonymous has confirmed that the entire studio has been let go. Earlier today an EA representative confirmed that EA Montreal had been subject to layoffs, but wouldn't comment on the extent of the firings or which studios were affected. Our source's comments fall in line with earlier rumors that Visceral Montreal has been closed entirely following the completion of The Devil's Cartel.
Our thoughts go out to Visceral Montreal's employees.
Update #1: An EA representative has passed along the company's official statement on the layoffs.
Today EA internally announced some adjustments to select development teams to align staff and skills against priority growth areas, including new technologies and mobile. Many employees are being retrained for new positions; however a small number will be released. These are great, talented people and we wish them well. EA is growing globally, and we expect our headcount to increase this year.
EA also stressed that Visceral Redwood Shores, the flagship studio of Visceral Games and developer of Dead Space, has not been impacted by the layoffs, which has been a source of confusion on Twitter. In regards to Visceral Montreal, the representative stated the following: "EA Montreal is a key development studio where our long-term plan is to sharpen our teams' focus on consoles and mobile games."
EA also confirmed with us that EA Montreal is not shutting down, but couldn't comment on the overall state of the Visceral Montreal team.
The video game industry is reeling from news of more layoffs, this time at Army of Two developer Visceral Montreal.
While Kotaku is reporting that the entire studio may have been shut down, EA is only confirming the company has "let some people go" in its Los Angeles and Montreal branches, according to a blog post by EA Labels president Frank Gibeau. Visceral Montreal's current game, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, is set to release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 26. We visited the developer for our cover story on The Devil's Cartel, and walked away impressed by the talent and enthusiasm of the staff, which we highlighted in this studio profile video.
We have reached out to Electronic Arts for clarification on the layoffs and will update the story when we learn more.
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