14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has announced plans to restructure its business in order to reduce spending, while taking care not to limit the quality of its games. Well, taking a look at the latest round of layoffs reported by the gaming-oriented media, it seems that they will hit two prominent developing studios.
Joystiq clearly states that Mythic Entertainment, which has created and now supports Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, has lost 21 employees handling customer services, half of the team handling Quality Assurance and all the people who were part of the play test group.
There are also rumors that EA Tiburon, which handles development on the Madden series and other properties related to EA Sports, has seen quite a few of its employees being laid off recently.
It's not yet clear whether Electronic Arts has managed to reach the targeted figure of letting go 10% of its workforce, which means about 1,000 people. Recently, the publisher also closed down Black Box, the developing branch that worked on the Need For Speed series and consolidated a lot of other studios.
Various issues could arise from the recent reductions in staff announced at Mythic Entertainment. It seems that the part of the studio worst hit has been that handling the testing element that is crucial for new releases like patches and expansion packs. So, unfortunately, those MMO lovers interested and heavily involved in Warhammer's dark fantasy world might see a relative drought of new content in 2009.
Patch 1.1.1 is supposed to arrive soon for the game, bringing with it a new gameplay mechanic, called Zone Domination, that will enhance the realm versus realm battle experience, while also introducing a fresh class, the Dwarf Slayer, which is an offensive-minded berserker.