OK I look at it this way, The games they have brought out over the past couple of years have been Sequals, With this in mind they have tweaked the engines as far as they can. So they no longer need so many working on games they have their main engines for each all they need do is add more content/Different.
I think from a buisness point of view I would do the same, Why have too many programers ect If there is nothing for them to work on.
Also I think the drop in sales are just people are fed up with paying for the same thing over and over again, It had to happen.
Look at all the MOH's the 007 games their sports games, All just follow-ups to the previous games.
As for the ones being layed off, I would not think of their familys, After all I have fed a load of them for years with the games I already own, There are plenty of Jobs out there in the Computer games world.
