PopCap closes Dublin offices, lays off 96 employees

After a month of uncertainty, PopCap has formally closed its Dublin studio and laid off its 96 employees. The Electronic Arts-owned casual games label announced its downsizing plans last month with around 50 cut from its main offices in Seattle and confirmed the end of the Irish studio today according to GamesIndustry International.

PopCap co-founder John Vechey said in a blog post at the time that the company would begin "exploratory consultation" with its Dublin employees to determine the future of the studio. A statement released today revealed the result of that consultation.

"96 people have been affected by the decision," read the statement from PopCap. "PopCap has provided outplacement support and many employees have offers in other parts of PopCap, at EA or new opportunities with technology partners in Ireland."

EA purchased PopCap last year for upwards of $750 million, and said it will continue to grow the label's European presence through its network and North American offices. The news comes less than a week after EA announced 300 new multilingual support positions at its Galway, Ireland customer support offices.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.