For the second time this year, Electronic Arts has laid off a number of employees from its Montreal branch, but has refuted rumours that it is closing the studio.

The company has also said that Gamasutra’s report that the layoffs affected 200-250 staff was “too high”, and that rumours of a complete shutdown were incorrect.

It would not disclose exactly how many employees were axed.

EA Montreal most recently produced the subpar Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, but the studio also contains a large mobile development contingent.

It is not yet known which divisions are affected, although it’s worth noting that BioWare Montreal is not involved.

"EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile," said the company in a statement.

"In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization.

"These are difficult decisions to let go of good people who have made important contributions to EA, and whenever possible we retrain or relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining our operations will help ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world."

An unspecified number of layoffs took place at EA Los Angeles and EA Montreal in February.