It’s the end of an era. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts announced that the head of EA Mobile, John Batter, would be vacating his position as Vice President in a few short weeks. Batter is ditching the gaming giant in favor of a return to DreamWorks Animation, where he spent much of his career before joining EA. His new title will be Senior Production Assistant.

Batter has been highly visible throughout his career at EA. He started out as the general manager of EALA, but was appointed to Vice President and General Manager of EA Mobile in late 2004. Batter’s role was, in part, to lend credibility and good standing to EA’s renewed interest in the mobile gaming marketplace. Always in the public eye, he was asked to be the keynote speaker to a full house at the Game Developers Conference just this part spring.

Electronic Arts is trying to cast Batter departure in a very positive light, claiming a win-win for all parties involved. Despite EA’s best efforts, though, you have to make note of the interesting timing of this announcement. Batter’s resignation came just one day after EA Mobile announced its intent to purchase mobile game developer Jamdat, a deal estimated to be worth $680 million. There has been speculation that a key reason for Batter’s departure was a concern over there being too many chiefs within the rapidly expanding mobile division once Jamdat became part of the mix. This has neither been confirmed nor denied.

Industry experts are placing their money on Jamdat CEO Mitch Lasky as the frontrunner to be the new point man at EA Mobile. They expect that he will be tapped into Batter’s newly vacated VP position as soon as the deal becomes official.

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