Madden NFL 15 News Post

Layoffs Hit EA Tiburon?

06:16 PM - August 20, 2014 by Steve_OS

It appears EA Tiburon has laid off some employees from the Madden team, according to Inquisitr.

It wasn't long ago when some of the NCAA developers were impacted by the game being cancelled, while others were brought over to the Madden team.

These types of things typically happen at the end of the cycle. We have reached out to EA Sports for comment. We wish the best to those that were impacted.

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Member Comments

# 21 Cowboy008 @ 08/20/14 07:30 PM

In the update it looks like only 4% were let go. Hopefully we find out who was let go.

# 22 Hooe @ 08/20/14 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flamehead


	I wonder if any of them might have been contractors...if they even go that route.

It's not unheard of. I started out as a contractor for the video game company I'm with. I've also seen EA advertise temporary positions in their open position listings on occasion.

# 23 mestevo @ 08/20/14 08:21 PM

Wouldn't be surprised if 4%+ of the team is laid off/reassigned after every Madden and for some reason this was just picked up as news.

# 24 fballturkey @ 08/20/14 08:30 PM

It's probably a mix of an annual cycle and some over staffing after the NCAA was let go/reassigned.

# 25 Iceman87GT @ 08/20/14 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Hooe


	Unfortunately this is pretty typical of the AAA video game industry. Release product, lay off staff. I'm halfway surprised that EA Sports still staffs an NCAA Football team right now to begin with. The article states that about 4% of the Madden NFL staff was let go. For whatever that number is worth. I would fathom to guess that that number is not large enough to have any significant impact on the direction of the series.

According to that same article NCAA 14 released in September 2013 (that's the same month when the series was permanently shelved and they consolidated staffs). There is no College Football development team, the writer of that article didn't do their research.

I only trust the 4% number because it was an update (presumably posted by an editor)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shizz420


	At least the stock is up for EA #ugh https://www.google.com/search?client...w=1349&bih=774

This is a standard process in AAA games, its not because they are hurting for money, its because they are finished with the development cycle. Heck it wouldn't surprise me if the reported 4% came from the PS3/360 staff and if most of them were those who were moved from the NCAA team.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A_Quiet_Pro


	It would have to be. The license is between EA (Madden) and the NFL. If one of those parties breaks away from the contract (in this case EA would have to IF Madden's cancelled), the license would be free to anyone. BUT..... WHY would we want another license though? Don't we WANT competition?

It's worth noting that EA was approached with the opportunity of an exclusive license, and they would have been fools not to take it. Its hard to imagine the NFL not offering 2K an exclusive license in a hypothetical world where EA cancels Madden. Competition would be better, but in this hypothetical situation competition would be impossible.

# 26 StL_RamZ @ 08/20/14 09:11 PM

maybe we will get another twitter rant from one of the fired employees

# 27 Gorilla Glass @ 08/20/14 09:21 PM

Yeah I hate to hear stuff like that because family members are involved.

# 28 elgreazy1 @ 08/20/14 09:25 PM

Guess EA has to afford the NFL license somehow.

# 29 TheLetterZ @ 08/20/14 09:31 PM

It's not uncommon for software development studios to lay off a round of people after releasing the product those people were working on.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's not uncommon.

# 30 grismosw @ 08/20/14 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreakingBad2013


	So after they do that whole EA ACCESS thing, they still have to lay people off? Jeez. They are either mis-managing money, or someone is really doing a job.

Corporate America

# 31 bigwill33 @ 08/20/14 10:07 PM

There are a lot of people here that can't/won't read and also don't understand business or video game production.

This is not news, this is common! These people are laid off because they are not part of the core team and are contracted for a period of time to work on a project.

If you understand business you'll know this is a benefit to them because they can collect unemployment and freelance until they are possibly (and usually) brought back to work on the next title when their role is once again needed. Many companies do this in all businesses from construction to sports teams and all things in between.

But hardly anyone understands this and people just jump to conclusions and make uninformed comments.

# 32 Hooe @ 08/20/14 10:25 PM

We'll be ending the antagonism towards other posters right now.

Thanks for your future cooperation.

# 33 Sheba2011 @ 08/21/14 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpkpkp


	It sucks those people have to tell their families they're out of jobs. If I lost my job I'd be devastated.

It's part of the business, I worked for a few tech companies (front office/management) in the past and it was always the same thing. You get done with a huge project and there is literally nothing to do. We would work Skeleton shifts (half the team works M/W the rest T/TH, training day on Friday) until the next project started. For me I was salaried so it didn't affect me but for the hourly guys it really took a toll on some of them.

# 34 ruiz @ 08/21/14 01:23 AM

Are you guys sure it's actually layoffs and not freelancers whose contracts ran out?

# 35 ManiacMatt1782 @ 08/21/14 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rdogg1026


	Devastating news. I will be fasting until those laid off find new jobs.

With todays job market, it appears we are gonna have a starvation death on our hands.

# 36 DNMHIII @ 08/21/14 02:20 AM

Payroll is the #1 controllable expense in most businesses and the best way to prop 3rd quarter earnings on paper is to cut expenses. This method of propping up profits will work as long as investment firms look past the labor trends of a company and continue to put their clients into that product.

Such a scam

# 37 ryan36 @ 08/21/14 04:59 AM

If 4% of a workforce has to wait for designers/creative whatever people to decide what's in next year's iteration before they produce it, I'd lay them off too. For instance, QA testers - contractors, laid off , generally invited back after 3 to 4 months for the next year's game. I know that's what EA does, at least with testers.

# 38 TomZeWolf @ 08/21/14 05:27 AM

Isn't this the norm? I'm not sure why this is really news?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 39 Sheba2011 @ 08/21/14 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomZeWolf


	Isn't this the norm? I'm not sure why this is really news? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's really not news Take Two, Ubisoft, Activision, Square Enix, Sony etc. have all had layoffs in the last few years.

# 40 countryboy @ 08/21/14 08:54 AM

Sad to hear anyone losing their job due to a layoff, which typically means it wasn't work performance that cost them their job, but rather downsizing in the company.

Hopefully those who were laid off bounce back on their feet sooner rather than later and their families aren't exposed to any struggle.

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