Report: EA About to Lay Off 500-1000 People

I honestly assume those numbers are very misleading - the majority of the 38% are probably playing Facebook games like Farmville. I don't like such gimmicky games being considered when discussing gaming stats, as it's possible for them to have 50 million players or more. It completely messes up the stats.

Whether they are playing Angry Birds or Minesweeper on their iPhone, or TF2 or some other game - that is still a shocking number of people playing F2P games. 38% of the entire US population?

It may very well be a contributing factor in the decline of these TOR and WoW subscriptions.
 
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Its not the WOW killer EA wanted.

Not sure who wanted a WoW killer except for WoW haters maybe ;) but EA sure as hell didn't. Riccitiello said that TOR would be fine (or in his words "substantially profitable") with only 500K subs. So they must be quite happy with the current 1.7 million and should still be happy even if the predictions of 1.2 million became true.

At the end of the day companies only care about short term profits and not money earned years later. Try telling your investors and stockholders were in the red for the next year but we will make it back in the next 5. They will not be pleased.

This is not true. Caring only about the short term is a guaranteed recipe to go out of business real fast. Seeing how long EA has been around they obviously have a well working long term strategy in addition to their short term strategies.
Also, when they acquired BioWare they did exactly what you described. They coughed up tons of money. They knew that the costs of the acquisition would be ginormous and they told their investors that there would be a longer period of red numbers until the acquisition would be fully accounted for but that it would be worth it in the long run.
I don't know why you find that to be so unthinkable. On a whole you seem to be having a lot of corporate prejudice with little basis in reality.
 
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Well another EA article I found this one interesting. I wonder if some of you here are part of it. I'm looking at you Moriendor.:p

And for the record I never played WOW so how can I be hater. I rarely touch any MMO. I just despise anything with the EA label due to there reputation and policy's.

Link-http://www.cinemablend.com/games/EA-…zon-40885.html

I have a lot of corporate prejudice I wonder why. I'll let you ponder it.
 
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For clarity, here's what John Riccitiello said about subscriber numbers during EA's Feb 1, 2012 Earnings Conference Call:


"What I basically said is 0.5 million subs, we could break even at the margin. 1 million subs would be meaningfully profitable, but nothing to write home about. It certainly would not make us feel good about the investments to date. It would simply be a good business on an ongoing basis. And then, from there as we scale, the business gets to be very attractive." (PDF Transcript of EA's Q3 2012 Earnings Conference Call, page 18)​

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Well another EA article I found this one interesting. I wonder if some of you here are part of it. I'm looking at you Moriendor.:p

And for the record I never played WOW so how can I be hater. I rarely touch any MMO. I just despise anything with the EA label due to there reputation and policy's.

Link-http://www.cinemablend.com/games/EA-Viral-Marketing-Exposed-Big-Buyout-Horizon-40885.html

I have a lot of corporate prejudice I wonder why. I'll let you ponder it.

Interesting article Couchpotato. Thanks.

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Most of EA's growth has been due to acquisitions and not organic growth.

I have come to the same conclusion, becaue I see it by their numbers of aquisions.

Any company that is self-sustained just doesn't need *so many* aquisions. It would contain the needed creativity to build up and maintain good products in itself.

That's why I often write that EA is nothing but some sort of Vampire to me : Buy up a dev firm, suck it dry and let the hull become borg.

EA acts - at least in my personal opinion - like a virus : "Borrowed life".
 
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Interesting article Couchpotato. Thanks.

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No problem just take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't say EA never did any of it. Remember Bioware was caught doing this with DA2.

I have come to the same conclusion, becaue I see it by their numbers of aquisions.

Any company that is self-sustained just doesn't need *so many* aquisions. It would contain the needed creativity to build up and maintain good products in itself.

That's why I often write that EA is nothing but some sort of Vampire to me : Buy up a dev firm, suck it dry and let the hull become borg.

EA acts - at least in my personal opinion - like a virus : "Borrowed life".

I agree this one sentence can sum up EA. Electronic Arts; building an empire made of the bodies of dead development companies.

I also found this on the same site-http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Child-Play-Responds-EA-DLC-They-Did-Have-Our-Permission-Run-Promotion-41190.html
 
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No problem just take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn't say EA never did any of it. Remember Bioware was caught doing this with DA2.
I would use a lot more than a grain. This could be anyone with a grudge against EA, and that's a pretty good sized population to draw from.

The idea that they are paying people to troll the social media seems pretty likely to me, though. A lot of those are just thumbs-up/thumbs-down things or quick impressions so it wouldn't be hard. It's simple and legal so it seems likely to me. I wouldn't be surprised to see other big budget publishers doing the same in several entertainment markets. So, even if I don't trust the source even slightly, it does seem a likely thing to me.

Still, that doesn't make my blood boil or anything. This stunt is what still has me ticked off.
 
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This stunt is what still has me ticked off.

That^ was really interesting.

And now a further bit of EA news; EA Announces Expansion of Its Always Online DRM Policy. Here's an excerpt:


"Electronic Arts’ policy of requiring its users to always be online when playing their games is going to continue but with a twist, confirmed Keith Ramsdale, the general manager of EA Northern Europe.

"This new version of the always online requirement will feature the implementation of “online universes,” where the games players purchase will exist on the servers rather than on one’s computer.

"…


If EA goes through with this new policy, it would kill my interest in any future games from EA companies. Playing games in a virtual prison just isn't my idea of fun.

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I'm wondering whether Diablo 3 will encourage Activision to head down the same path?
 
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That^ was really interesting.

And now a further bit of EA news; EA Announces Expansion of Its Always Online DRM Policy. Here's an excerpt:


"Electronic Arts’ policy of requiring its users to always be online when playing their games is going to continue but with a twist, confirmed Keith Ramsdale, the general manager of EA Northern Europe.

"This new version of the always online requirement will feature the implementation of “online universes,” where the games players purchase will exist on the servers rather than on one’s computer.

"…


If EA goes through with this new policy, it would kill my interest in any future games from EA companies. Playing games in a virtual prison just isn't my idea of fun.

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There already doing this with the new Sims game. It's already started. Just remember it's not about DRM at all. Looks like there joining Ubisoft.

Link-http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/24/simcity-dev-we-built-this-from-the-ground-up-to-be-a-multiplayer-game/
 
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There already doing this with the new Sims game. It's already started. Just remember it's not about DRM at all. Looks like there joining Ubisoft.

Link-http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/04/24/simcity-dev-we-built-this-from-the-ground-up-to-be-a-multiplayer-game/

So that means you'll have to worry about greifer cities until about 10 patches in when they figure out all the ways your neighbors can mess you up in ways outside of what the initially anticipated/expected? Oh and always have to be online even if you just wanted a single player experience without getting contract requests from GiantP33n_666 every 20 minutes.
 
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So that means you'll have to worry about greifer cities until about 10 patches in when they figure out all the ways your neighbors can mess you up in ways outside of what the initially anticipated/expected? Oh and always have to be online even if you just wanted a single player experience without getting contract requests from GiantP33n_666 every 20 minutes.

Yes to every question since your city is part of the online world and each affects the other.

I like this comment -
I can't wait to build a nice line of garbage dumps and heavy industry along the edge of my city and then a buffer of windmills to ensure all the air pollution is pushed outwards towards my neighbors. Forced MP is fun!
 
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Yes to every question since your city is part of the online world and each affects the other.

I like this comment -

I wish Team Avolition would make proving how bad forced MP is their mission for the first week of launch. Sadly, the videos would be boring.
 
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PC Gamer had the opportunity to talk to BioWare Writing Director Daniel Erickson, who dismissed rumors of a significant drop in subscription numbers for the heralded MMO.

BioWare stated that subscriber numbers haven’t dropped, but concurrent users at peak times are in fact struggling a bit. Erickson said the developer is doing “anything and everything” to keep that number of concurrent users steady.

BioWare is in the process of finishing up an experiment in expanding the SWTOR universe without forcing players to pay/download content supplemental to the experience. Instead, BioWare recently introduced to the game the "Rakghoul plague outbreak" which turns unsuspecting characters into the most feared, and unquestionably most annoying monsters in the Star Wars universe. Infected characters quickly turn into the bulky mutants, giving you the opportunity to play the role of a**hole and infect your friends. The plague has in fact been a part of the SWTOR storyline already. The plot is intertwined with the Kaon Under Siege and The Lost Island "flashpoints" added after the game's release as add-on content.

The event is a result of an integral concept that BioWare hopes will keep players engaged. Erickson stated that SWTOR seeks to be “not just a destination to see your friends but a place to log in just to see what’s new. Interesting replayable content is the top of the list of design prototypes going on over here.”

Erickson interestingly continued by saying he believes content such as the Rakghoul plague will add to a singular, coherent in-game history that players will be able to reflect upon later down the line.

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/bioware-subscriber-numbers-star-wars-republic-dropped/
 
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Erickson said the developer is doing “anything and everything” to keep that number of concurrent users steady.

Anything and everything, huh? :rolleyes:

First comment left on that article was this:

The reason why subscriber numbers aren't dropping is because BioWare offered 30 days free play time to players who were maximum level, or at a certain level of their Legacy system. What they neglected to tell players is that this "free" time does not begin until the next billing cycle, so many have been charged thinking they were going to have a free month. Since fewer players are logging in anyway, that explains why subscribership is steady while peak population is down. BioWare's ruse, in concert with the actual extension of time, has the added benefit of giving a false appearance to their subscriber base for quarterly reports. Let's hope that there are savvy business analysts who can see through these tricks.

Interesting... ;)
 
Interesting… ;)

You know what I find interesting? That the article people posted to support their idea that TOR are "bleeding subscribers" says that TOR may lose 400000 subscribers by this time NEXT YEAR.

Multiply 15 dollars by 12 months by 1.3 million people, add in the 60 dollars initial purchase for over 2 million people… Yep, they're doing terribly and they MOST DEFINATELY won't make back the almost 200 million dollars they spent on the game :roll: .
 
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I don't even know how this topic became a TOR topic. The point of this topic was to show my hate of EA and there shady future and past dealings. The point was also about EA laying off 500-1,000 people they already started.

If people want to defend them go ahead there one of the worst things to ever happen to gaming. I cant even list all the developers they bought abused and closed.
 
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Uh. Uh. Very bad. VERY bad. They basically used the renown of a web site's name for promoting something without getting ANY okay from the owners of the web site itself ?

Is this like … a cereals producing company using Mr. Obama as a "source" of ouright of saying "he uses our cereals, too !" ???

And there was a link within this article : http://donottrustpennyarcade.blogspot.de/2012/04/before-you-go-to-pax.html

Uh ? They believe that big companies are using charity as marketing tools nowadays ???

How deep can we fall, then ?
 
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