The authors of Plants vs. Zombie, Bejeweled and Zuma have confirmed the liquidation of one of their largest studios. They assure that EA has nothing to do with it.
A month ago we already wrote that PopCap Games, owned by EA, is reorganizing. During the latter, about 50 people were fired from the American office, including one of the authors of Plants vs. Zombie. Now it is time for the European division of the company, which, as it has become reliably known today, has been dissolved.
96 employees were laid off during the closure. Their device, according to PopCap itself, has already been taken care of. Interestingly, EA itself last week announced the expansion of its Galway office, located near Dublin, by 300 people. It can be assumed that most of the PopCap employees will settle there.
PopCap management insists that the decision to close the studio was made independently of EA. The company assures that it continues to grow, hire new people, invest in the development of new games, as well as its brands.
The only alarming thing is that since the purchase of PopCap by EA, we have not heard about new franchises of the studio for a long time.