Comments | ohmisunao: Talk about blood of a thousand...

ohmisunao

Talk about blood of a thousand...

Nov 11, 2009 02:43

EA laid off 1,500 people today. One of them was my amazing art director, Jason Kaehler, who seemed pretty essential to the project. I'm glad he was able to lay down a lot of standards for us to go by... and hopefully we make it without him. But it definitely won't be the same ( Read more... )

layoff, ea

Comments 13

van November 11 2009, 11:54:44 UTC

Ugh, the head's almost always get cut off so they can be replaced with less experienced people who will work for a fraction of the cost. Nghn. And everyone keeps saying the economy is improving, but I certainly don't see it.

Glad you weren't one of the 1,500.

ohmisunao November 12 2009, 09:01:46 UTC

Agreed...

And thanks! Kotaku rumored that all of Maxis was getting cut... but so far it hasn't happened.

mackys November 11 2009, 18:03:09 UTC

I couldn't believe the news when I saw it. Crazy.

ohmisunao November 12 2009, 09:06:19 UTC

It's pretty bad... we just went through a round of layoffs.. and this time they actually made cuts that will have a sizable negative effect on the end product. :P

cromulator November 11 2009, 18:09:21 UTC

Here's your accountability:

http://people.forbes.com/profile/john-s-riccitiello/28819

Check out the compensation part. Oh, and EA has yet to post a profitable quarter since he came on board.

To be fair, I think he's steering the company in the right direction in terms of IP. They're just not seeing any results.

ohmisunao November 12 2009, 09:04:54 UTC

Yeah I like the IP direction.. but I wonder if it's worth it?

And yeah he has a lot of zeros on that sheet.. but dude he still makes 6mil!

thereallink November 11 2009, 19:35:34 UTC

With your entry phrased like that, I can only ask the same. That's too bad to hear you lost some good friends and associates but at least you have your job.

ohmisunao November 12 2009, 09:10:25 UTC

Yeah I'm appreciative that I'm still working.. and that our project wasn't cut. I will definitely do my best to keep this thing going well.

tetsushin_agito November 11 2009, 22:02:06 UTC

EA is one of those companies that got big by buying out a bunch of companies with an investment concern, not the real way (i.e. by actual growth). Companies like that always fail abysmally in the end.

ohmisunao November 12 2009, 09:11:00 UTC

I guess that remains to be seen.. they've been doing buyouts for a real long time now.