EA lays off more PopCap gaming staff

14 Mar 2014

It has been another blow to PopCap gaming as its parent company Electronic Arts (EA) has decided to lay off between 30 and 40 employees in continuing cost-saving measures.

The company best known for creating the popular Plants vs Zombies mobile game has, according to Kotaku, been gradually letting staff go over the last year on the insistence of EA.

According to a statement released by PopCap’s general manager John Vechey, it was a necessary step to develop the company’s future games.

“The changes we made today at PopCap were painful and we’re sorry to lose some of our friends and colleagues. But it was also necessary in order to stay on course with our future plans for mobile games, live services, and new IP. PopCap is a studio that made its name building great games that the world can fall in love with, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

The Irish gaming industry will find this news all too familiar, as PopCap had previously held an office in Dublin before the company decided to close the Irish base, with the loss of 96 jobs.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com