Electronic Arts has further culled its mobile-focused Montreal studio, according to a company statement and anonymous sources on Gamasutra. The number of employees affected was not disclosed, though these layoffs are seperate from those the studio suffered in late February.

“EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile,” the statement read. “In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization. These are difficult decisions to let go of good people who have made important contributions to EA, and whenever possible we retrain or relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining our operations will help ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world.”

A source who spoke with Gamasutra claimed that 200 to 250 employees were eliminated with more to come, but an EA rep said that number is “too high” and the studio is not closing. BioWare Montreal, lead developer of the next Mass Effect, does not appear to have been affected.

We’re still not sure about Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel developer Visceral Montreal, but a Game Informer source indicates the studio was wholly laid off in February.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines co-developer TimeGate Studios has confirmed a recent round of layoffs at the company.

While the Houston, Texas-based firm didn’t detail the extent of the cuts, Polygon sources indicate that about 25 employees were let go following the collapse of a publishing deal.

TimeGate president Adel Chaveleh told the site: “Today, we had to make the difficult decision to let go of some great game developers. This is never easy, and we’re doing all we can to assist those developers affected. TimeGate is preparing, as is the entire industry, for the transition to next-generation consoles and new business models. As part of this reinvention, all projects and strategic initiatives continue to move forward at the studio.”

Formed in 1998, TimeGate has worked on a number of FEAR expansions, developed the Section 8 series, and most recently assisted Gearbox on its poorly received Aliens FPS. In our Aliens: Colonial Marines review we said the game “is like a trip to a natural history museum. It’s empty and nostalgic, meticulous and dated.”

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Valve boss Gabe Newell has responded to reports of significant layoffs at the company by attempting to assure fans that any personnel changes haven’t affected its current projects.

Reports claim the Steam owner and Half-Life maker has laid off as many as 25 employees, including hardware engineer Jeri Ellsworth and director of business Jason Holtman.

While Newell wasn’t directly willing to discuss the company’s employee situation, he responded to the reports by offering Engadget the following statement:

“We don’t usually talk about personnel matters for a number of reasons. There seems to be an unusual amount of speculation about some recent changes here, so I thought I’d take the unusual step of addressing them. No, we aren’t canceling any projects. No, we aren’t changing any priorities or projects we’ve been discussing. No, this isn’t about Steam or Linux or hardware or [insert game name here]. We’re not going to discuss why anyone in particular is or isn’t working here.”

Among other unannounced projects, Valve is currently working on its own gaming hardware for the living room, while the company recently announced plans to collaborate with filmmaker J.J. Abrams.

Valve also plans to deliver two talks at next month’s Game Developers Conference, one about porting Team Fortress 2 to VR goggles and the other about development challenges for head-mounted displays and tracking systems.

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UPDATE: Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor told Gamasutrahis studio “had to slim WAY down to conserve cash reserves” but is still operating, with its future staked on the success of Wildman. The original story follows.

Gas Powered Games, developer of Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander, and the nascent kickstarter for Wildman, has implemented significant layoffs. Multiple sources have told Kotaku that “almost everyone at the company has been laid off,” and the studio may be shutting down entirely.

Gas Powered Games’ website says the Redmond, Wash. studio employs more than 60 people. Founder Chris Taylor confirmed that layoffs are taking place, but didn’t address their extent.

“We do have a layoff, and we’ll be updating our Kickstarter as well with details as well very soon,” Taylor said. “I’m way behind, so many wonderful people to talk to and share stories with, so it just takes time. It’s actually been a fairly positive experience, because I run a very open company and everyone knows what’s going on.”

The Wildman Kickstarter has not been updated at this time, and stands just short of $175,000 out of its $1.1 million goal.

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HMV plans to call in administrators from Deloitte today after failing to agree on new terms for its debt during crisis discussions with banks and suppliers over the weekend.

The 91-year-old UK entertainment retailer has struggled in the face of growing demand for digital downloads, and lenders couldn’t be convinced to offer it a new lifeline following continued poor sales over Christmas.

The move into administration puts some 4,300 jobs at risk. HMV said in a statement: “The board regrets to announce that it has been unable to reach a position where it feels able to continue to trade outside of insolvency protection and in the circumstances therefore intends to file notice to appoint administrators to the company and certain of its subsidiaries with immediate effect.”

It’s expected that Nick Edwards, Neville Kahn and Rob Harding of Deloitte will be appointed as administrators, and analysts expect them to find a taker for at least part of the company. Restructuring firm Hilco, which bought HMV Canada from its UK parent in 2011, is rumoured to be considering buying the group out of administration, the Guardian reports.

A spokesperson for HMV said it hopes to keep all 239 of its UK stores open, although the company is no longer accepting or issuing gift vouchers.

“We want the business to continue as a going concern and fashion a future for ourselves – whether that’s through finding a new buyer or other means – and the best way for us to do that is still trade with all our stores open,” HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo told CVG.

Neil Saunders, managing director of the research house Conlumino, said HMV’s fall into administration “was always inevitable” due to structural failures. “In the digital era where 73.4 per cent of music and film are downloaded or bought online, HMV’s business model has simply become increasingly irrelevant and unsustainable.

“HMV did not react early enough to the digital trend; it did not give shoppers a reason to keep buying from it. Admittedly, the company has tried to innovate through selling more electricals and gadgets but, unfortunately, these initiatives were never going to be enough to counteract the terminal decline in its core business.”

Specialist UK games retailer GAME went into administration last March. Administrators from PwC quickly announced the closure of 277 stores, resulting in the loss of over 2,000 jobs. Thankfully the company was bought out of administration by OpCapita in early April, saving more than half of its pre-administration store portfolio and staff.

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