EA hush on layoff numbers

Electronic Arts has attempted to calm fears that its loss-making business will not need to slash its workforce to save costs.

Twelve months ago the firm announced it had to sink the axe deep into its workforce, making some 900 jobs redundant.

This year the measures appear to be less drastic. Rumours of over 100 job cuts were, more or less, denied by EA last night as it registered a three-month loss of $201 million and a 23 per cent sales decline.

“We announced a plan to restructure key licensing and development agreements to improve the long-term profitability of our packaged goods business," said CFO Eric Brown in a conference call.

"While some employees are impacted by this restructuring it’s a relatively small number, this is not a major personnel reorganisation. We are continuing to hire in selected franchise teams and in our digital business," he added.

EA has cancelled the NBA Elite project.

The so-called whistleblower of the suspected mass-layoffs, ex 3D Realms’ boss George Broussard, has since removed a message on Twitter that suggested the cuts affected over 100.