EA has laid down the law once again and shut down BioWare San Francisco, due to costs of producing social games being too high in Redwood Shores, CA. The layoff saw 25 to 30 employees lose their job. BioWare San Francisco is the team behind the iPad version of Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age Legends.
The fact that EA is shutting down even more studios isn't all that surprising, since about two weeks ago, it was announced that EA employees of Montreal and Los Angeles saw a lot of layoffs as well. What is surprising is that these layoffs are happening to EA, the company who singlehandedly dominates the gaming market. Is there trouble in the financial department for EA?
Turns out the biggest contributing factor to all of these layoffs are next-gen consoles. President Frank Gibeau stated on the BioWare layoffs:
Console transitions are a complex and challenging experience.
All the trend lines are converging to reward the creative and financial investments we have made in mobile and console technology.
Losing your job can't ever be easy and for those affected by the layoffs, we hope you fine folks get back on your feet
