While certain segments of EA’s gaming business are downsizing, others are expanding in the interim. EA has revealed that its Salt Lake Studio branch is moving into spacious new digs located in downtown Salt Lake City.

More office space means EA is on the prowl to hire talent. To that end, exec producer Ben Bell says the studio is currently working on a new project classified as “groundbreaking.” Tantalizing as that may sound, EA isn’t ready to offer up details on it yet. Bell did however note that a small team of experienced developers with roots in The Sims franchise will be making the jump to work on this yet to be named effort.

A small team of experienced developers from The Sims Studio in Redwood Shores are moving to Salt Lake City to kick off a new project. As I mentioned, EA’s Play Label has an established office in Salt Lake City. Developers from EA Salt Lake will join the production and we’ll hire for key positions as the project grows.

With titles like The Sims and Spore behind its belt, you could say that EA Salt Lake caters towards the casual gamer, rather than focusing on core efforts with a niche appeal. Whatever it is, we’d expect this project to follow suit, which means a release on Nintendo platforms is likely a given. All in all, this is a move that goes hand in hand with EA’s intent to place an increased focus on internal efforts.

EA Announces ‘Groundbreaking’ New Project as it Expands Salt Lake Studio [IndustryGamers]

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