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EA has refused to confirm whether Medal of Honor: Warfighter developer Danger Close Games has been closed amidst the company’s ongoing restructuring.
VideoGamer.com contacted EA yesterday to enquire about the studio’s status following the publisher’s recent layoffs and the suggestion that the Medal of Honor franchise may have been put on hold. But we were told by the company that it would not be commenting on the status of Danger Close – including whether or not the studio remained open.
When pushed further on the subject, EA provided VideoGamer.com with a similar statement to the one it issued last week following the lay-offs at the publisher’s Montreal studio.
“EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile,” said EA Corporate Communications’ Tiffany Steckler. “In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization. Unfortunately we don’t disclose impact on individual teams or locations.”
EA’s decision to remain silent over the status of Danger Close is troubling, and raises serious questions about the studio’s future. After all, why wouldn’t EA deny claims that the studio may have been closed if it is in fact alive and well?
Key staff are known to have left the developer over recent months, including studio head Greg Goodrich who departed the team in December, and Warfighter’s creative director Richard Farrelly in August 2012.
A glance at the LinkedIn profiles of other Danger Close employees suggest that an unusually high amount of staff also left the studio between January and March 2013.
Medal of Honor’s official Twitter feed – expected to be maintained by Danger Close – hasn’t been updated since late February, either.
The future of Danger Close was cast in doubt following EA’s decision to take Medal of Honor “out of rotation” earlier this year.
The publisher suggested that it would be killing off the shooter series after the latest release, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, failed to “resonate with consumers”.
Ex-CEO John Riccitiello suggested that Warfighter’s failure was the primary reason for EA’s third quarter revenues coming in below expectations.
