According to Canoe Money, EA is going to be undertaking some major cutbacks, shedding 1,500 jobs (about 17% of its workforce), closing several offices and possibly dropping some of its titles in the process. This is the second phase of layoffs for EA, and part of a strategy to focus on key money-making titles.

So, which titles might be on the block? Obviously Madden is safe, and likely most of the EA Sports empire. Ditto, for now, for the 14,000 iterations of Rock Band. Criterion Studios and Bioware (Burnout and Mass Effect, Dragon Age respectively) are also probably just fine. Also, with EA’s acquisition of Playfish Inc, maker of games for social networking sites, expect EA to push even further into casual games and titles for Facebook and mobile phones.

On the other end, teams connected to newer IP’s with less-than-stellar sales like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge may have reason to be concerned. Further from Kokatu, “the team working on Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight was warned of its fate today, with almost the entire team expected to be let go after the real-time strategy game ships some time in 2010. Also said to be affected heavily are Spore and former-Sims studio EA Maxis, social network gaming acquisition Rupture Studios, and Mercenaries and The Saboteur creators Pandemic Studios LA. Those development studios are said to be hit with substantial layoffs, according to a source, with remaining employees relocated to EA headquarters in Los Angeles and Redwood Shores.”

Unfortunate news for the many folks losing their jobs.