EA closes PopCap studio in Dublin

Electronic Arts is closing its in-house developer PopCap’s Dublin office.PopCap logo

The shut down of the Dublin office results in 96 people losing their jobs. PopCap associate producer JP Vaughan confirmed the closure in a tweet this morning. According to Vaughan’s LinkedIn profile, PopCap Dublin was primarily responsible for working on the company’s mobile properties. His work experience lists includes working on iOS updates for Plants vs Zombies, Bejeweled and Peggle, the Android versions of Plants vs Zombies and Peggle, various Java games and an unreleased social title.JP Vaughan tweet

Last month, PopCap let go 50 employees across its North American branches and was performing an “exploratory consultation” to figure out whether the company could maintain its Dublin studio.

A statement sent to Inside Mobile Apps by a PopCap spokesperson read that the consultation period completed, resulting in PopCap deciding to close its Dublin office.

PopCap’s statement also read that the company has provided outplacement support for many of the employees, offering employment in other parts PopCap, at EA or new opportunities with technology partners in Ireland.

Although EA is cutting staff at PopCap, EA had recently announced its expansion to its European Customer Experience Center in Galway, Ireland, adding 300 new jobs with help from the Irish government’s Industrial Development Authority.

PopCap opened its international studio based in Dublin in early 2006.

The closure today happened only a year after EA acquired the casual games developer for $750 million.

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One Response to “EA closes PopCap studio in Dublin”

  1. Electronic Arts acquires ESN says:

    [...] Electronic Arts has acquired Swedish tech firm ESN, the company responsible for Battlefield 3′s social platform Battlelog. The acquisition comes on the heels of EA’s closure of PopCap’s Dublin office. [...]

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