Word from Eurogamer this afternoon is that Electronic Arts has shuttered EA Phenomic, the studio responsible for (among other games) Lord of Ultima:

The situation at Phenomic was brought to the attention of GamesIndustry International by a number of sources with knowledge of the studio and its employees. EA would not comment on the specifics of Phenomic’s position, but offered the following statement regarding the ongoing internal restructuring in the company as a whole:

“As part of EA’s realignment in recent weeks, we have announced internally a small adjustment to some development staff to better focus our teams against priority growth areas. The decision to let people go is not something we take lightly and we are working to ensure that impacted employees are treated fairly and with respect for their contributions to EA, and with assistance to find other job opportunities.

“These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us”

The EA representative also told us that the company has no plans to move away from free-to-play or strategy games.

At present, there is no word on whether (or how) the studio’s closure will impact any of their remaining games, including Lord of Ultima and Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances. Both games were recently added to Aeria Games’ stable of titles, so it’s possible that Aeria will in effect assume all further responsibility for running both. Equally, it’s possible that both will be shut down in short order.

We wait and we see, I suppose.–