After laying off a number of staff from Turbine earlier in the year, Warner Brothers have announced plans to further cut down the number of people working with the Lord of the Rings: Online developers further as part of an effort to “invest in growth areas at Turbine”.

A representative for Warner Bros. told Joystiq. “Unfortunately, in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine, we have to eliminate some positions… it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace.”

As well as the Lord of the Rings game, Turbine also take care of Infinite Crisis, a MOBA. It’s unclear yet whether the cuts are to be made specifically in just one of the two teams or if positions across the studio are going. The exact number was also kept quiet but a source has said that it is around 80 people who have lost their jobs. If the LinkedIn page for Turbine is to be believed, the studio employed 370 staff so that’s a sizeable chunk.

The same source also claims that Warner are trying to focus the studio more on mobile development and this was part of the reason for the downsize.