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That original statement yesterday mentioned that the company was "ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia," but no flat-out closures were mentioned.Â

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

March 27, 2019

1 Min Read

Yesterday, Electronic Arts announced that it was laying off 350 staff members as part of a restructuring initiative. Shortly after, statements caught by websites based out of Japan and Russia confirmed that those offices would both be closing as the result of the same decision. 

That original statement yesterday mentioned that the company was “ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia,” but no flat-out closures were mentioned.

A translation of the statement obtained by Famitsu meanwhile, says that “as part of the decision to reorganize the division, we announced the closure of the Japan office," before going on to note that "Japan is an important market for us and we will continue to support EA games and support in the Japanese market.”

A Russian story spotted by GamesIndustry confirms that a similar fate has been met by EA’s Moscow office. Some Moscow-based staff will be relocated to continue work on projects being redirected to EA’s Eastern European regional office. As with both preceding statements from EA, the company made a point to say it still plans to support and release games in this region.

It’s not mentioned how much these two closures make up the 350 layoffs EA executed, but the previous statement notes that marketing, publishing, and operations departments were hit the hardest by the decision.

About the Author(s)

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

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