EA confirm huge loss, more lay-offs planned
Festive sales disappoint Riccitiello
EA CEO John Riccitiello has admitted that while the publisher's Christmas period sales were up 151 million USD on the same quarter in 2007, that the company still made a huge loss of 641 million dollars, game sales failing to live up to expectations.
While EA had already confirmed plans to cut 10% of its workforce, this will now rise to 11% as a result of these poor financials - meaning another 1,100 staff could go.
Games including Mirror's Edge and Dead Space have so far sold over one-million copies, while Left 4 Dead sales have so far topped 1.8 million, but these successes weren't enough for EA to hit their targets it would seem - Riccitiello suggesting that sequels tend to be more succesful - hence his 2009 optimism.
"Our holiday quarter came in below our expectations and we have significantly reduced our financial outlook for fiscal 2009, a clear disappointment," admitted the CEO.
"We delivered on game quality and innovation in calendar 2008, with 13 titles rated 80 or above - more than any third-party publisher. We expect to build on this great quality record in the year ahead while delivering more profitability."
12 development facilities could also be axed as part of cut-backs.
