Following last week's financial results and news that Electronic Arts has instituted a reorganization plan involving closures of certain facilities and layoffs, the publisher has confirmed to GameDaily BIZ that EA Chicago has been shuttered, effective immediately.

Jeff Brown, VP Communications at EA, explained that the closure of EA Chicago is part of the approximately 350 layoffs expected in total as part of the reorganization plan. He said that there are around 150 people working at EA Chicago who will be affected by this move – again, this is part of (not in addition to) the previously cited 350.

The closure of the studio directly relates to its profitability (or lack thereof). "We're willing to take risks, make long-term investments and support teams and individuals between launches. But each team is responsible for staying on a reasonable path to profitability," EA Games label President Frank Gibeau said in an internal memo. "The [Chicago] location has grown dramatically in the past three years while revenue from the games developed there has not. As it stands, EA Chicago has no expectation of hitting our profitability targets until FY2011 or later."

He added, "Closing EA Chicago is the toughest decision I've made in my career - one that in no way reflects on the talent and dedication of the people who work there."

EA Chicago was responsible for the Def Jam fighting series and the studio had also been working on an upcoming fighting game based in the Marvel comics universe. The critically acclaimed Fight Night series started out at EA Chicago but was moved over a year ago to one of EA's sports studios in Canada.

Brown said that the status of the EA Chicago games like Def Jam is "to be determined" and they'll likely make an announcement on that "shortly." He also acknowledged that Def Jam "did not sell as well as we had hoped."

Brown also stressed to us that although 150 people will be "impacted," it doesn't necessarily mean that all 150 will lose jobs. "There are a lot of HR people here today from all the other EA studios and they're here interviewing folks, trying to recruit them to come work at other EA studio locations around the world... Any full-time employees that do not take jobs at other studios will be offered severance and outplacement assistance," he said.

"What you're seeing is very much reflective of the changes in management and the overall management philosophy at EA," he added. "[John] Riccitiello came back six months ago and brought in what they called a change agenda... and within each one of the new EA labels they're using a different lens to evaluate the economics of the business."

The status of EA Chicago GM Kudo Tsunoda is currently unclear, but Gibeau said in his memo that he considers him "to be one of the best creative minds in our industry."