EA: It's "no coincidence" that PlayFish purchase coincided with lay-offs

EA recently let a bunch of people go. You may have heard about it. Hell, in all likelihood, you may even be one of those people, considering how many heads rolled off the chopping block. However, according to EA SVP and CFO Eric Brown, your sacrifice was not in vain. You fueled the future. Or something.

"It's no coincidence that we simultaneously announced a cost reduction in connection with the acquisition of PlayFish, because that represents, in our mind, a very important shift to digital direct," Brown said during the BMO Capital Markets 2009 Annual Digital Entertainment Conference in New York.

Brown also shed some light on the motivations behind EA's hook-up with PlayFish.

"One of the things they do exceedingly well is make a game for viral distribution … [another is] the quality of the revenue model," he explained, talking about PlayFish's microtransaction-centric business model. "We bought them for their IP and their game design expertise."

More at Gamasutra.