Electronic Arts, publisher of such hits as Left4Dead and Need for Speed, has closed it’s India branch earlier this March. According to ex-Head Marketing Manager Yashdeep Bali, the closure was due to “global corporate restructuring” and the group is presently in the process of relocating to Singapore to continue operations. EA President of Asia Jon Niermann stated back in October that the largest continent only accounts for 6% of EA’s global revenue – and it while the exact number is unknown, other Asian branches have allegedly closed down and relocated to Singapore.
Despite the rampant piracy problem and recent recession, EA employees remained hopeful of causing an impact in India with aggressive marketing and competitive pricing for titles, though gaming still remains a niche market in India. EA has stated their desire to continue supplying games to India, if not directly than perhaps through an external distributor. With the relocation process still underway, an Indian distributor has not yet been announced by the company.
Looks like we can once again blame this sorrowful painting on the current economic recession that’s been gripping the world. What does it mean for the gaming market, letalone industry, in India when a major player like EA closes shop? Certainly the end to a popular myth that India has all the IT jobs.
10 Responses to “Breaking News: EA Closes India Branch”
Sheesh and I thought India was an emerging economy…
Been a reader of this site for a long.. so have to point out an error in this story.. as far as I know, the EA development studio continues to function. It is only the marketing corporate part which was shifted to Singapore.. I had blogged about it earlier.. the info was first posted by Medianama
If you mean EA’s dev studios located in the US or UK, then they continue to function, yes. However, EA India, which handles the marketing and distribution of EA titles in India, has been shut down along with some Asian branches and resources have been reallocated to Singapore.
@ Ravi – The dev team here is an outsourcing affair, and its work continues. But the entire corporate side of things has rolled out. So marketing, sales and distribution is now not here anymore. This shouldn’t affect gamers too much, as distribution through an established network should also be smooth, though the status of events like Vixture are less certain.
@ Balu – Thanks for the info, keep visiting.
@gSathe: I think I said the same thing.
@Balu: Saw your blog. Nice work. Keep visiting, though. The more, the merrier.
@ Ravi: Apologies, had just woken up. Dunno why but my insomnia might be back… Went to sleep at 5 and got up at 7.30!
LOL I love the features/humour stuff here.. been a subscriber to the feed from the beginning =)
@gSathe
Oh yeah.. what about vixture? =/
@Ravi
Glad you liked it. I have been blogging at littlechap.wordporess.com for a long time now.. set up this one recently.. the theme needs more work
@ Balu – Glad you liked the humor stuff man, I’ve not updated it in too long, but am very attached to it… About Vixture, my unnamed source tells me that they may or may not pull out completely, even from event promotions. Those decisions will be made late next month once everyone takes root in Singapore. Of course, this is all unofficial talk, and not a real quote so we decided that we shouldn’t say so in our article.
@gSathe
Rightfully so.. But Vixture lacked publicity.. very low turnout. So i never consider it a success. It was a big moment in Indian gaming but as a tourney it was #fail
Vixture was only an event sponsored by E.A and this is came straight out of the P.R’s mouth, E.A jumped onto the concept at the final moment when most of the stuff was finalized.
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