EA hiring amid staff cuts

Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference in New York on Thursday, chief financial officer Eric Brown said, "We will be hiring back positions in low-cost locations to maintain capacity."

EA has sliced back on its release roster and its development staff – 16% of its overall headcount – in an attempt to cut up to $100 million in costs. It looks like part of the company’s strategy is to hire in low-cost areas, such as Asia. Most of its cuts are being made in North America.

Announcing the cuts earlier this week, chief exec John Riccitiello explained, “We are making tough calls to cut cost in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses."

During his speech in New York, also broadcast via the web, Brown tackled the company’s purchase of social game maker Playfish. He said that EA had bought the firm for its expertise in creating games for social networks, such as Facebook, and because the company believes in the future of digitally distributed games and in the revenue model for virtual goods and microtransactions.