Apparently this is the case. According to a forum post on Stratics, which is also backed up by an article on Destructoid, a goodly portion of the Ultima Online team - including all of QA - was laid off yesterday afternoon.
This is just the beginning of layoffs at EA, from the sounds of it. Destructoid received an email that looked to be from Mythic VP Rob Denton, detailing plans for the coming months, which included cutting overhead costs for several of EA's studios - most notably Redwood Shores and the EA Mythic studio in Fairfax, Virginia.
Given this, John Riccitiello, our CEO, has tasked the company to get its costs in line with revenues ... Every studio, group and division of the company has been tasked to review its overall headcount and adjust its organization to meet the needs of the business moving forward.
Another thing of note that came out of this news is that the Ultima Online team will be moving to the EA Mythic studio in Fairfax, which makes sense, as EA Mythic is now (and has been for a while) maintaining the game.
Head over to the Destructoid article to read more.
Comments
The thing that scares me is EA generally. They don't have a very good attitude to gaming from what I can tell and with Activision Blizzard now in direct competition with them, I fear a panic move on their behalf. Perhaps they are planning to put their efforts into muscling World of Warcraft out of the MMO market? Maybe they think that is where the money is and they will put all their efforts into taking it? They'll fail if that is the case.
Guess I may have to give Warhammer a chance after all ;)