PopCap has today confirmed to Gamasutra that, following a consultation period, the company has moved to close its Dublin, Ireland-based offices, laying off 96 staff in the process. The company said last month that it was performing an "exploratory consultation" to determine whether it could maintain its office in Dublin. Today's layoffs follows on from 50 layoffs across its North American branches. Garth Chouteau, PopCap's senior PR director, noted that the company is providing outplacement support for the 96 employees affected, either in other parts of PopCap, at EA, or with other partners in Ireland. "Europe remains a critical market for PopCap," he said, "and we will continue to grow our presence through centralized services operated from our North American offices and through the extensive European EA network." It's notable that PopCap's parent company EA stated last week that it will create 300 more jobs at its Irish customer service centre over the course of the next year.