EA's Australian Studio FireMonkeys Hit With Massive Layoffs

Layoffs are becoming increasingly more common. Within the last 6 months, Telltale Games closed, Activision Blizzard let go 800 employees following record profits, and ArenaNet is starting to let employees go. Now, EA's Australian studio FireMonkeys is letting about half its staff go.

The studio was founded in 2012 after EA merged IronMonkey Studios and FireMint. According to Kotaku AUS, around 80-100 employees from the 200 pool will be let go. According to Kotaku AUS this is only the beginning, with rumors circulating that the entire studio may meet the fate of Visceral Games.

As for what FireMonkeys will be doing moving forward, EA gave the following statement:

“The FireMonkeys studio is working on some of our most popular mobile games. We recently made a decision to shift teams to focus more on our live services, and have entered into a consultation period that may impact some roles in the studio. We’re working to match skills with opportunities as we go through this period, identifying other opportunities at EA, and providing as much help to our employees as we possibly can.”

Our best goes out to all of those at FireMonkeys affected by these layoffs.