Electronic Arts reportedly plans to shut its EA Partners label, which has provided contract-based publishing services for independent developers since 1997. Game Informer says it received word of the company’s plans from multiple anonymous sources, who also claimed that the move won’t affect EA’s involvement with Respawn Entertainment’s first game or Insomniac’s upcoming Fuse.
The EA Partners label has helped bring to market numerous high profile releases including the Crysis, Left 4 Dead and Rock Band series, plus Bulletstorm, The Orange Box, Portal 2 and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. While we’ve sought comment from EA on the status of its Partners label, the company may opt not to discuss its plans before the release of its fiscal year 2013 results on May 7.
Should Game Informer’s report prove accurate, the closure of EA Partners would form part of ongoing company-wide restructuring as EA attempts to "sharpen its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile". The streamlining of EA’s business has seen the publisher make a series of worldwide layoffs, while long-serving CEO John Riccitiello resigned in March.
