As far as EA’s financials go, their overall revenues for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30th was posted as $894 million, up from $640 million during the same period last year. These numbers were definitely a result of some of their strongest game launches in recent memory, including Spore, Mercenaries 2, Warhammer Online, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Madden NFL 09 and NCAA Football 09.

Up until September 30th, standout sales numbers include Spore, which has sold 2 million units, Madden NFL 09 selling 4.5 million and Warhammer Online selling 1.2 million units.

Net loss on the other hand reached $310 million compared to $195 million last year. As a cost-reduction plan, EA has announced its intention to lay off around 6 percent of its staff, which equates to about 600 employees. EA spokesperson Mariam Sughayer said of the layoffs:

“It’s a global reduction, not just focused on one studio or one location. The decisions that impact people’s jobs are always extremely tough, but all the people affected will be treated appropriately and respectfully, with the appropriate severance package based on their time at the company and other mitigating factors.” The layoffs are said to have affected EA LA as well as Pandemic, amongst others.

“While we had good progress in growing revenue and increasing product quality, we have an ongoing imperative to manage our cost structure,” added Sughayer. The cost reduction plan includes the reduction of new hires as well as closing currently open positions. EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a statement:

“Considering the slow down at retail we’ve seen in October, we are cautious in the short term. Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular.”

Riccitiello continued, “The industry is growing double-digits on the strength of three new game consoles and increases in the number of homes with broadband internet connections. EA is well-positioned to benefit from these technology drivers due to the strength of our creative studios and our broad collection of game properties, from The Sims to Spore and Madden NFL to Warhammer Online.”

Sad news indeed.