Electronic Arts suffers game delays, higher expenses
More bad economic news coming from one of the largest and most prestigious Silicon Valley company.
Electronic Arts, maker of video games such as Madden NFL 09, Rock Band or Harry Potter, announced today that it will lay off about 6 percent of its work force (about 500 to 600 people) to save $50 million in fiscal year 2009. This, amid doubling its losses – compare to a year ago – at $310 million.
All is not lost though, as sales for EA’s second quarter ’09 jumped 40 percent to $894 million from a year ago. Expressing “cautious” optimism, the video game maker CEO, John Riccitiello still hopes for a decent holiday period, the most lucrative season for the games industry. Like other video game companies, the Redwood City, Calif.-company makes the bulk of its money in November and December.
And while lowering its fiscal year 2009 profit expectations, EA execs did however keep the revenue forecast intact probably relying on the success of some upcoming games.
