Stand down: EA denies reports of imminent lay-offs

EA has denied it's preparing for a massive rearrangement of staff, with as many as 1,000 jobs reported to be on the chopping block.

"There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing," the publisher said in a statement to MCV.

"At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services."

Startup Grind reported the layoffs were to occur as early as this week.

According to the tech industry site, the move was prompted by an overly rough year, including the departure of CFO Eric Brown and costly acquisition of PopCap. Last week, The Consumerist labelled EA the "Worst Company in America".

Despite critical praise and sales of approximately 13 million units, EA were allegedly disappointed with Battlefield 3 sales after an estimated $30 million spent incremental marketing after launch. It is alleged that the same was done to boost sales of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but results have fell well short of internal expectations.

Thanks, Kotaku.

[Original story by Matt Williams, contributions by Johnny Cullen]