Electronic Arts is reportedly closing down its third-party co-publishing 'Partners' label, a program responsible for releasing major titles from external studios like Valve and Crytek.
Partners label was EA's initiative to provide contract-based publishing services for independent developers. Citing multiple anonymous sources, Game Informer reports that EA will soon shut down its publishing arm. However, the sources did confirm that the closure would not affect the two upcoming games - Insomniac's Fuse and Respawn Entertainment's unannounced project.
The move comes on the heels of widespread layoffs at EA earlier this month which was followed by the departure of CEO John Riccitiello. EA has also decided to abandon as many as six games from PlayFish, a studio it acquired in a $300 million deal in late 2009. The games being closed also include some of its once-popular Facebook titles such as The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society.
Partners label was responsible for bringing out a number of popular titles such as the Crysis series, Shadows of the Damned, Alice: Madness Returns, Bulletstorm, Brutal Legend, and the Rock Band series among many others.
