With rumours spinning around the internet, PopCap co-founder John Vechey has spoken out on PopCap's reorganisation in a blogpost.

Hitting back at those who claim the whole thing is an EA put-up job, Vechey said "the hard decision" is something that's been made by PopCap's founders, CEO and executives.

"I've seen speculation that EA is no longer letting PopCap run independently, and that's simply not true," he said.

Keeping balance

As for outcome, the company will see a "Reduction In Force" in North America of around 50 staff.

However, the company is still hiring in other areas of its business and expects to end 2012 with the same number of staff.

More worrying is the future of its Dublin office, which handles international PR and marketing, mobile development, and support.

Vechey revealed PopCap is talking to its Dublin staff in an "exploratory consultation" to see if it can improve European profitability without closing the office completely. Hence at the best, it seems likely there will be further job cuts in the office.

Shifting sands

More generally, these changes are happening as PopCap moves from a product to a service approach.

"Free-to-play, social and mobile games have exploded in popularity. That happened fast. Surprisingly so," Vechey pointed out.

"The change in consumer tastes requires us to reorganise our business and invest in new types of games on new platforms. It's a completely different world from when we started."

He added that if PopCap can't adapt, it won't be profitable and won't be able to invest in new IP.

"If we don't stay in business, no more plants, zombies, jewels, frogs or worms."

[source: PopCap]