C&C Labs News Wire

— Tuesday, November 10, 2009 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 9:46:47 PM ET

Report: EA to Lay off RTS Team After C&C 4 Ships

The future of Command and Conquer after C&C 4 is in serious doubt, after an announcement by Electronic Arts yesterday. Despite announcing record game revenues of 1.15 billion USD, EA revealed that it was restructuring its games apparatus, and cutting 1,500 jobs. The effort will save $100 million per year, according to the company.

According to a report by game industry site Kotaku citing several anonymous sources, "those cutbacks include studios like Pandemic, Maxis and nearly the entire Command & Conquer team." Two discussion threads on the official C&C forums on the matter were locked. Community Manager Aaron Kaufman posted today on his Twitter feed that he was not laid off: "Just wanted to let you guys know that I am safe, haven't quite hit my nine lives yet =) But a somber day nonetheless, to say the least."

There are other reports that at least one former EALA employee has confirmed the C&C team's closure in private social networking groups.

EA CEO John Riccitiello said of the decision, “We are making tough calls to cut cost in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses.”

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