PopCap, the studio behind Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies, put 50 men on the street, and close as possible, the Irish studio. Also, the Norwegian developer Funcom should intervene to save costs. Publisher THQ should be 20 marketers dismiss.
PopCap is the most forthright about the impending redundancies. John Vechey, co-founder of the studio, explains in a blog on the site of the business and what steps are going to be and why an intervention is necessary. Vechey confirms the rumors that layoffs are going to fall by PopCap, the studio known for games like Bejeweled, Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies.
Despite the fact that the studio earlier this week announced that in 2013 a sequel appears on Plants vs. Zombies, there are 50 people redundant at its headquarters in Seattle. The procedure would be necessary because the market according to Vechey, changes greatly. That makes that PopCap ‘needs to invest in new types of games on new platforms,” says Vechey. The consequences of the reorganization can be even greater for the PopCap office in Dublin. PopCap is considering which branch to close, the company is looking to methods to the profitability of the Dublin department to increase. Incidentally, emphasizes Vechey that PopCap is not only people exempt, but still people accept it. The ceo expects that despite the redundancies, the total number of employees at the end of the year the same as at the beginning.
The Norwegian Funcom leaves less loose. The studio confirms opposite site The Verge that the people should dismiss, but wants no further comment. So would the studio not to show how many people will lose their jobs. According to some rumors, however, it is a major surgery: the studio would be half of the staff will have to dismiss. The studio closed at the beginning of July the development of mmog The Secret World; it is customary that at the completion of a large project as a mmog temporary staff are dismissed. If Funcom half of the staff will dismiss, however, there is more to it than the cleaning of temporary staff.
THQ, meanwhile, has not yet confirmed that redundancies are going to fall. Rumors about an intervention in the ‘overhead’ of the publisher and dived on by a tweet from 3D Realms director George Broussard, a mail online placed of Jason Rubin, the new director of THQ. From the mail it appears that Rubin wants to intervene in the departments of Marketing and Production. The surgery, involving, inter alia, 20 marketing employees will lose their jobs, according to the director, is necessary because he is ‘new markets, wants to conquer with new distributiemethodes.’ It is not the first intervention in the staffing of THQ this year. Brain Farrell, the pastor of Rubin, had in February firmly intervene to 240 people on the street to convert.