It almost seems impossible, considering the frequent reports of studio closings we've reported over the past twelve months, but the survey indicates a slight rise in U.S. game industry employment in 2009, with 44,806 industry professionals in the country as opposed to 2008's 44,400. The census indicates that while major publishers from EA to THQ were closing studios left and right, new casual and online gaming developers were popping up around the country, counterbalancing the rash of layoffs. Still, a difference of only 406 isn't much, and we've still got a week left of 2009.

Canada, on the other hand, saw an increase of nearly 30%, with 12,480 employees to the previous year's 9,500. While some of that growth can be attributed to a sharper focus on the country by census takers Game Developer Research, even more was due to the opening and announcement of new Canadian studios from Ubisoft, THQ, and Funcom.

For more stats and figures from the 2009 video game industry, check out Game Developer Research's full 2009 Game Developer Census, available for purchase via the Game Developer Store for a mere $2,500.

Schappert called the move a "targeted cost reduction which will allow a greater investment in our hit titles and digital businesses." The reduction in titles, which Schappert later revealed to number more than a dozen, goes hand in hand with the closing of facilities and layoffs as part of the company's restructuring plan.

Schappert could not comment on which titles were cut, citing the difficulties inherit in announcing the cancellation of titles they had never announced in the first place. He mentioned reoccurring yearly titles, The Sims, and Hasbro titles as being the company's best-sellers, going on to say that anything that looks like it wouldn't measure up to the profitability of those titles had been cut.

"In a way, if you could array our title slate up...we've cut the bottom third of it."

The "Cost Reduction Plan" detailed in the EA release involves the closure of several facilities and a huge reduction in workforce in order to "narrow its product portfolio to provide greater focus on titles with higher margin opportunities."

"This action will result in the closure of several facilities and a headcount reduction of approximately 1,500 positions, of which 1,300 are included in a restructuring plan. The majority of these actions will be completed by March 31, 2010. This plan will result in annual cost savings of at least $100 million and restructuring charges of $130 to $150 million."

News of the reductions comes in the same press release that reports record non-GAAP revenue for the 2nd quarter, with $1.147 billion up 2 percent from the same time last year, surpassing street expectations.

The release also mentions EA's $300 million acquisition of social network games developer Playfish, which we reported on earlier today. One could assume this means that Facebook games have "higher margin opportunities."

The release did not name which facilities would be seeing cuts, though rumors indicate that EA Tiburon, Black Box, Redwood Shores, and Mythic are among those seeing layoffs today.

Said to be affected are EA's Tiburon and Black Box studios, located in Orlando, Florida and Burnaby, British Columbia, respectively. The Tiburon studio is responsible for EA Sports' Madden, NCAA Football and Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchises, as well as its upcoming mixed martial arts offering, EA Sports MMA. Black Box has been largely responsible for the publisher's Need For Speed and Skate series.

Both developers were previously affected by layoffs over the past year as part of a previously announced restructuring plan.

Also rumored to be affected are EA Redwood Shores' quality assurance team and Mythic Entertainment. Tweets from ex-staffers at those studios indicate "huge chunks" let go at the former, approximately 40% laid off at the latter.

Rumors of Electronic Arts' plans to cull staffers began circulating last week. The cutbacks appear to have been rolled out over the course of the past few days, ahead of EA's quarterly earnings report and alongside confirmation of the publisher's acquisition of Playfish, said to be a $300 million investment in the social gaming developer.

Those cuts extend to "hundreds" of EA employees and unspecified game projects, according to tipsters.

We've contacted Electronic Arts for confirmation on the cutbacks, but have not yet heard back.

Word of the San Mateo, California based developer being hit with layoffs came earlier today via Kotaku tipsters, with quiet mention of the cutbacks hitting Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, the latter two home to "ex-Slipgate Ironworkers" groups. We reached out to a few ex-Slipgate employees who confirmed that they were no longer with the company as of this week, estimating that around 50 staffers were let go.

According to a statement from Gazillion—home to Gargantuan, NetDevil, Slipgate and The Amazing Society—the team at Slipgate Ironworks is now officially smaller, with some of the affected employees being placed at other positions within the company. Slipgate's MMO project, which John Romero briefly detailed a few years ago, is said to continue with a new format.

"Gazillion has enjoyed remarkable growth over the past year and is proud to be partners with revered, world-class brands," reads a statement. "We have expanded our number of studios from one to four and our MMO portfolio from two games to a slate of titles. As part of our focus on reaching the widest possible audiences with breakthrough MMO entertainment, we decided to change the format of our project at Slipgate Ironworks to better achieve this aim."

That may mean some changes from the game's original vision, according to Gazillion.

"The game we'll launch will build on the efforts to date with a smaller core team and the other Slipgate staff are already in discussions around the many open positions across our slate of projects," the statement notes. "2010 will be an exciting year for Gazillion as we bring several groundbreaking MMOs to markets worldwide. We're tremendously appreciative for the dedication and creativity of our employees who make this all possible."

Gazillion Entertainment signed a 10-year-long deal with Marvel Entertainment earlier this year to produce a number of titles based on the comic book publisher's properties. Slipgate was said to be working on an original property for Gazillion, not related to the Marvel deal.

If not, he's probably best known—in addition to his contributions to Spore—for one of his Game Developers Conference talks, in which he described the Wii as "a piece of shit" and slammed Nintendo for its hardware design choices. He later apologized for those remarks.

He may also be recognized from his rant Do Your Job Well, Please, an editorial delivered at this year's GDC on video game journalism.

By Hecker's estimate, the cutbacks at Maxis numbered 24 (he thinks). He estimates in his personal list of contributions to Spore that some 80 people were working on the game as development wrapped up.

Hecker announced on his personal site his follow up project, an indie game called SpyParty, which he describes as "a very different multiplayer espionage game" that apparently offers a level of excitement on par with ski jumping away from massive explosions.

Elvis Has Left The Building [Chris Hecker's Website]

It's been a bumpy ride for Atomic. In May they had a high-profile title in development and a publishing agreement with Konami. Unfortunately the backlash caused by the sensitive subject matter of Six Days in Fallujah, a title that would replicate a real-world battle only a few years in the past, caused Konami to pull its support. Development on the project continues, but without major funding, cuts had to be made.

Due to a mixture of fears about the edgy subject matter of Six Days in Fallujah, as well as low videogame sales this summer, we have been unable to secure full-scale funding from a major publisher for Six Days in Fallujah. This has caused us to reduce the size of our studio today.

In the words of Marine officer Chesty Puller, "We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem." Development at Atomic will continue with a smaller team that will be funded by our sister company, Destineer.

Atomic Games employed 75 people up until this week. Their official announcement does not mention specifically how many were let go, but we suspect the number to be rather substantial.

We're contacting the company to see if any further information is available.

Update: We contacted Atomic Games directly, but the company was not prepared to share details on the extent of the layoffs, the number of employees affected, or how the layoffs will factor in to the ultimate fate of Six Days in Fallujah. We were told that more information will be released at a later date.

Upon getting word of the layoffs from IndustryGamers, we contacted our SOE rep to see if we could glean any more information regarding the layoffs, which have eliminated 41 full-time employees. SOE quickly shot back the same official statement the other site received.

In a move to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs, Sony Online Entertainment has eliminated 5% of its full-time workforce, equaling 41 people. SOE looks forward to continuing its leadership role in the online games industry as it celebrates the highly successful launch of Free Realms, the 10-year commemoration of its ground-breaking EverQuest franchise, and the continued performance of the company's other games.

And that's all they wrote. The layoffs should not affect the operation of any existing SOE titles, or the development of games like The Agency and DCU. We wish the 41 recently-unemployed industry professionals the best of luck.

Sony Online Entertainment Hit With Layoffs [IndustryGamers]

GRIN, which has development offices in Sweden, Spain and Indonesia, is rumored to be in the process of shuttering its Gothenburg and Barcelona-based annexes. Layoffs at its headquarters in Stockholm are rumored to amount to nearly 30. That reduction in staff and studios is said to affect somewhere between 100 and 160 employees total.

The developer most recently shipped Terminator: Salvation for multiple platforms to mixed reviews. It also shipped Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Bionic Commando Rearmed within the last year.

While layoffs that occur after a major title ships are not uncommon in the industry, the alleged closure of studios is more telling of GRIN's situation.

We've contacted representatives from Capcom and GRIN, but have yet to receive confirmation on the layoffs. Consider this distressing news rumor until we hear something more definitive, but given the numerous sources, all of whom wished to be kept anonymous, we'd think something's definitely up.

Sources close to the studio say that Big Huge Games, developer of the Rise of Nations series and Catan for Xbox Live Arcade, has been given notice by THQ, which has intentions to close the studio within 60 days. Official response from THQ is that the publisher informed the Timonium, Maryland-based Big Huge Games that it plans to close the studio if a buyer is not found "in the near future."

Big Huge Games was working on an unannounced Wii game and a role-playing game designed by former The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion designer Ken Rolston.

THQ also notified two other development studios that they will be "spun out as independent companies."

California based Heavy Iron in Los Angeles and Incinerator in Carlsbad were let go by the publisher today, part of THQ's previously announced cutbacks. Both studios were responsible for creating titles based on Pixar properties, including The Incredibles and Wall E from Heavy Iron and Cars from Incinerator Studios.

Heavy Iron is doing the same thing (although I'm not sure if they are retaining all employees).

THQ reps call the actions "unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment." It has plans to layoff nearly 600 employees or about 24% of its total workforce, in order to cut costs by $220 million in its fiscal 2010.

The publisher confirmed earlier this month that it had laid off approximately 100 employees at its Champaign, Illinois quality assurance facility.

Update: An Incinerator Studios employee contacted us to add clarification to THQ's official announcement, writing that the developer will be "under contract with THQ to complete both our current projects" adding that "All THQ Incinerator employees are being offered a position with the new studio." He implied the same was true for fellow studio Heavy Iron, noting that he was "not sure if they are retaining all employees."

Sources tell us that Vancouver based Propaganda Games is in the process of laying off approximately 70 employees. That reduction in workforce is likely closely tied to the cancellation of Turok 2, a title never officially announced by Disney, but one of two projects that Propaganda was working on, we're told.

Propaganda's second project, which sources opted not to define, is still actively in development.

According to one employee at a DIS subsidiary, the parent company is also planning to consolidate a handful of its studios, including Avalanche Software and the Fall Line studio. Both development houses are responsible for creating games based on Disney properties such as Chicken Little, Hannah Montana and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Both studios are located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Disney is planning to eliminate jobs outside of its video games business as well, with Reuters reporting that job cuts will hit television networks ABC and ESPN.

Representatives from Disney Interactive Studios did not immediately return phone calls requesting comment or confirmation. [Disney reps have since confirmed and clarified this report.]

Update: We received internal communication forwarded to remaining employees from Steve Wadsworth, President of the Walt Disney Internet Group. Wadsworth writes: "As you can imagine, given economic conditions, every industry has been impacted on a global scale. In response to this challenging business environment, we have examined ways in which we might be able to work more efficiently. We have taken measures to control costs by freezing most open positions, deferring some capital projects, reducing support from third parties, taking significant reductions in travel and entertainment expenses and eliminating other activities. The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid. In addition to all of these changes, we have also determined that Directors and above will not be receiving merit increases this year. All of these actions are part of a focused effort to ensure we are closely managing the organization through the current economic climate, balancing our need to respond to the current environment with our goal of driving significant long-term growth."

We've just gotten off the phone with the helpful, friendly receptionist at the Vancouver Nexon America development studio, who informed us that all of the approximately 90 employees at the location were let go this morning, and that the studio was now closed. One of our tipsters indicates that the news came by way of a studio-wide meeting this morning, which was expected to result in only half of the workforce being let go.

The Vancouver studio was actively working on the development of Nexon titles. The company's existing properties - MapleStory, Combat Arms, Mabinogi, etc. - should not be affected by this closure.

Our hearts go out to the displaced employees of Nexon Vancouver, especially the incredibly helpful receptionist manning the phones in the face of such turmoil.

The report from IGN cites unnamed inside sources at SEGA of America, noting that the company had not yet commented on the alleged lay-offs.

While we have no confirmation on our end either, nor have we heard from anyone possibly affected by cutbacks at SEGA, it wouldn't come as a surprise. Over the past month, we've seen job turbulence at EA, Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics, with studios such as Pandemic Brisbane and Factor 5 on even shakier ground.

Bad Economy Hits SEGA [IGN]

Over the past week, reports from other sources, namely Fudzilla, pegged the Redmond giant as laying off as much as 17% of its 95,000-plus workforce, a figure that doesn't include contractors. Fudzilla speculated that the newly profitable games division would be unaffected.

CNBC's source says that the Fudzilla reported is "grossly exaggerated" and that cost-cutting measures include attrition — meaning employees leaving voluntary by retirement or resignation wouldn't be immediately replaced — and the non-renewal of contract employees.

If Microsoft does scale back, it would likely announce those plans officially before the end of the month.

Competitor Sony is also rumored to initiate severe cuts in 2009, with The Times reporting that the electronics and entertainment giant would shutter "major divisions." Things are tough all over, man.

Microsoft Readies Cuts; Though Big Layoffs Unlikely [CNBC via Seattle PI]

The company went into administration following the shutdown last week, and now Cameron Gunn of administrators ReSolve Partners have outlined plans to offload the leftovers. 140 employees were "made redundant" effective December 31st, with the remaining 40 being offered up as part of the company's sale, indicating "strong interest" by unnamed parties.

It remains unknown what the potential sale means for the future of Free Radical's various projects, and hopefully the leaked concept art won't be the last we've seen of TimeSplitters 4.

Free Radical Slashes 140 From Work Force [1UP]

EA has revealed further details on its restructuring plans, which will see the publisher cutting approximately 1,000 jobs and closing or consolidation of nine studio and publishing locations, including Black Box Studio.

The workforce reduction portion of the program is actually an extension on the 6% reduction announced back in October, increasing it to a 10% reduction. Terminations of the 1,000 employees is expected to be completed by March 31st, 2009. On top of the terminations, nine studio and publishing locations will be either closed or consolidated with other facilities, with Black Box Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia being merged with the EA studio in Burnaby, BC.

Along with narrowing their games portfolio, these measures are expected to save the company $120 million annually, while costing them $55-65 million in restructuring charges over the next few quarters.

Not good news for employees, but I suppose it beats coming to work to find you've been locked out.

EA Releases Details on Previously Announced Reduction of Facilities and Work Force

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced further details on a restructuring plan which will include consolidating facilities and reducing the work force.

EA expects the restructuring plan will result in annual cost savings of approximately $120 million and restructuring charges of approximately $55-65 million over the next several quarters.

The plan is intended to reduce EA’s worldwide work force by approximately 10 percent or 1,000 people. The majority of these actions will be completed by March 31, 2009. This represents a four percent increase from the six percent reduction EA announced on October 30, 2008.

The restructuring also calls for consolidation or closure of at least nine studio and publishing locations. Among the facilities to be consolidated is the Black Box Studio facility in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Black Box development teams and associated game franchises will move to the nearby EA studio location in Burnaby, British Columbia.

EA is implementing a plan to narrow its product portfolio to focus on hit games with higher margin opportunities. The company remains committed to taking creative risks, investing in new games, leading the industry in the growing mobile and online businesses, and delivering high-quality games to consumers.

According to Edge's anonymous source, the alleged details of Factor 5's funding problems, as announced on an employee's personal blog, were spot on. Employees haven't had a paycheck since mid-October, the source said, adding that the animator who dished the dire details on Factor 5 has since left the company — and may even facing legal ramifications for making it's problems public.

Factor 5 was said to be seriously financially impacted by the folding of Brash Entertainment, which itself laid off staff in November.

Source: Factor 5 Cuts 37 [Edge]

Speaking to MMO website Ten Ton Hammer, Fucom explained that the layoffs were in line with their ongoing efficiency and perfomrance initiatives, and that as old positions were cut, new poitions opened.

We did have some staffing cuts at Funcom this week as well as new positions opening in the organization as part of our ongoing cost based efficiency and performance initiatives that are vital to any business.

The rumors point to cuts being made to the customer service and quality assurance departments, which basically means everything should continuing running the same as it already has been.

Funcom Layoff Addendum: Official Comment from Funcom [Ten Ton Hammer]

"We lost the first deal in February but we could survive that one because we had a shortage of staff in other projects and we decided to put together a team to work on a original IP that we had in development. But the team that were working on a project that was terminated last week – there were about 67 people on that team."

Undeterred by such setbacks, Sundberg goes on to state that the trimmed staff has resulted in a stronger focus on their remaining titles, Just Cause 2 for Eidos and The Hunter with Emote Games. They're also in discussions with different publishers regarding a new project, so the layoffs certainly aren't affecting the company's ambition. Good for them.

Avalanche prepares to lay off 77 staff [GamesIndustry.biz]

Force Unleashed is the first internally developed 360 and PS3 title for LA, and the first LA-developed title since Republic Commando for the Xbox in 2005. There is, as Yoda might say, another ...

That would be the untitled Indiana Jones third-person actioner, and according to Shacknews, the remainder of its work, left after The Force Unleashed hits the street, will be outsourced. Shacknews notes that past and present development partners include TT Games, Day 1, BioWare, Pandemic and, reaching way back, Totally Games (X-Wing, TIE Fighter).

Source: LucasArts to Halt Internal Development [Shacknews]