If I said the name Turbine would you think that I was talking about a gaming company? Unless you are into MMORPGs then the odds are good that you did not come to that option. So before we talk about the job cuts that are coming to the company lets talk about how the company has chosen to describe itself, “Turbine is the premier creator and operator of Asheron’s Call® (AC), Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) and The Lord of the Rings Online ™ (LOTRO) — some of the most popular online games available today. Located outside of Boston, MA and part of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment family, Turbine is known for its innovative free-to-play business model and fostering powerful online gaming communities. AC was one of the first 3D persistent online games, launching in 1999 and receiving stellar reviews and awards including “PC Game of the Year” by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. DDO launched in 2006 then re-launched with a free-to-play model in 2009 to critical acclaim, winning Best Free-to-Play Game of 2009 from MMORPG.com, Massively, ZAM and TenTonHammer. ”

Sadly the company did not say anything about the magnitude of the layoffs that have recently swept through the company. If the layoffs are large enough they may be a mass layoff action. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Sadly this is not the only gaming company that has had to resort to layoffs recently in order to set its profits to right. For those of you who missed out on the earlier cuts made by Zynga this week here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed on those cuts in no time at all, “For some time now Zynga has been the big name in social games, but that may be changing…Earlier this week the company chose to cut back on about five percent of its workers, in a move designed to help the company cut back on costs. The layoffs have impacted workers in several US cities, including Austen, Chicago and Boston, though at this time it is not clear if the company has triggered a mass layoff action.”