Electronic Arts Inc

Electronic Arts Inc. has hit the reset button on its video game business. The publisher of such franchises as the Sims and Madden NFL posted a deeper quarterly loss Tuesday. It also said it would cut 100 more jobs and close three more facilities than announced in December because of disappointing holiday sales. The Redwood City, Calif., company now plans to shed 11% of its workforce, about 1,100 people, from the payroll this year and shut down a dozen facilities.

On the show floor at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week, Electronic Arts' Brutal Legend has been one of the hottest and most heavily promoted video games. Behind the scenes, however, the game is at the center of a brewing legal war. Activision Blizzard Inc., the biggest U.S. video game publisher, filed a $15-million lawsuit Wednesday against Brutal Legend developer Double Fine Productions in an attempt to block competitor Electronic Arts Inc.

Hammered by a steep drop in the sale of traditional packaged video games, Electronic Arts Inc. on Monday said it would cut 1,500 jobs, more than 16% of its workforce, even as the game publisher announced plans to acquire online game developer Playfish Inc. in a deal valued at up to $400 million. The dual moves -- one aimed at trimming expenses by about $100 million a year and the other at increasing profits -- came as the Redwood City, Calif., firm released its fiscal second-quarter earnings showing a 17% decline in revenue from its packaged games business, reflecting an industrywide malaise.

Need for Speed, Electronic Arts Inc.'s racing franchise, has raced past the 100-million copies mark, making it one of the top five bestselling video game properties of all time. (The other four franchises in the elite 100-million club are the Sims, Mario, Pokemon and Grand Theft Auto.) Developed in 1994, Need for Speed has evolved from a game made by a dozen developers to roughly 100 designers, programmers and perfectionists who obsess over cars. EA has cranked out 15 Need for Speed titles, but it wasn't until Need for Speed Underground came out in 2003 that sales got turbocharged.

For Electronic Arts Inc., it was a tale of two earnings. One report, based on commonly used accounting standards known as GAAP, was grim. EA said Tuesday that sales plunged nearly 20% to $644 million in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30 compared with the same period a year earlier. Losses swelled to $234 million, or 72 cents a share, from $95 million, or 30 cents, last year. The other report was positive. Revenue grew 34% to $816 million from $609 million in 2008.