HomeLAN has more information on the closings of both Westwood Studios and EA Pacific as announced by Electronic Arts earlier today. EA"s Vice-President of Corporate Communications Jeff Brown told HomeLAN this evening in a phone interview that the new consolidated Los Angeles EA studio (which currently handles the Medal of Honor series) will be the new development home for the Command and Conquer franchise.
Most of the C&C: Generals team will be moved to the new LA studio and Brown said there are still plans for new C&C titles in the future.
For players of Westwood"s massively multiplayer RPG Earth and Beyond, Brown told HomeLAN that the game"s servers and support will be moved to EA"s Redwood Shores, CA studios (where Motor City Online is based) in about a month after the closing of Westwood"s Las Vegas offices. The transition should be seemless for players, according to Brown. Brown stated that Earth and Beyond"s subscriber base is growing and that EA still plans to support the game.
The new LA studio will be moved into a new building this summer, according to Brown, and will have 200 employees at first but Brown told HomeLAN that EA plans to hire as many as 300 more people for the new EALA studio over the next several years.