As you might have read on the blogs or more highbrow news sources today, EA announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs today. No, I didn’t get laid off. Yes, I still have a job.
But every round of layoffs, no matter when they happen, what the financial rationale, how many people are affected, always hurts on a more personal level. Every round that affects our location/division involves people that I know and, often, have worked with.
And it never seems fair, especially in light of the announcement today that EA is finalizing $300 million deal to acquire a startup that makes Facebook games.
But I don’t know the long-term financial EA plan, nor do I know the day-to-day finances, so I’m not in a position to say that these layoffs are not the best way forward toward making EA a better company, both in terms of products released and bottom line profits.
Still, school never prepared me for stuff like this. Muffing interviews and not getting jobs? Sure. You soon learn to deal with rejection at a business level. But good people who did solid, necessary work being there one day and gone the next?
I never get used to that.
