A hundred employees, directly linked to the services of the EA Sports football game franchise, will lose their jobs. But the company denies a link with the abandonment of the license.
The situation is tense at Electronic Arts. According to a report by Kotakunearly a 100 Customer Support Employees in Austin, Texas Branch to Be Laid Off. This staff was dedicated in particular to the online activities of FIFA 22. According to emails discovered by the American site, these tasks will be outsourced, a decision which seems to have been taken following the abandonment of the FIFA license next year.
On the EA side, Joel KnutsonVice President of Customer Experience explains:
We are constantly evolving and improving our support model to provide our fans with better experiences.
It is for this reason that several positions will be eliminated, for “less complexity and to improve our efficiency, flexibility and scalability”. In the same way, similar positions at EA Galway in Ireland, which handles customer relations with European players, will be cut.
If EA wants to put out the fire and assures that there is no connection with the termination of his juicy deal (but costly) with FIFA, Kotaku puts forward a financial reason: these employees have claimed several times an increase following the increase in calls from dissatisfied customers, more than the $0.10 per hour increase per year. And this despite the very good financial health of the company. The company spokesperson denies:
The changes to our customer support feature are not tied to any particular game franchise, nor to the announcement made by EA Sports FC last week.
EA says it is working closely with staff on these changes, guided by a desire “to provide more flexibility and allow us to help players when they need it most.”
Source: kotaku.com
