MicroProse Inc. will lay off about 25 workers Hunt Valley firm let 40 go in March

In another move to return MicroProse Inc. to profitability, the computer game maker yesterday laid off about 25 employees from its Hunt Valley headquarters.

A terse announcement released yesterday evening said the reduction of its U.S.-based staff was part of MicroProse's "ongoing restructuring plans" and that the remaining 150 employees in Hunt Valley would continue operations there. MicroProse has more than 300 employees worldwide.

The announcement did not specify the number of layoffs, but sources within the company said the number was about 25.

Vice President Gerard R. Blair said last night he does not expect further layoffs at Hunt Valley.

"What we are doing at MicroProse is to bring costs in line," he said.

This is the company's second layoff this year. In March, MicroProse laid off about 40 employees.

Mr. Blair said the layoffs were not associated with MicroProse's planned merger with Spectrum HoloByte Inc., a small Alameda, Calif.-based game maker with big corporate backers.

Although it awaits approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, that merger is still expected to take place in October, he said.

The Hunt Valley operations are expected to continue after the merger.

In June, MicroProse announced that high costs and poor sales of some of its computer games had caused the company to lose millions of dollars and that the company needed new investment.

Spectrum HoloByte, maker of popular games such as Tetris and the flight simulator Falcon, lent MicroProse $10 million in return for control of the company.

MicroProse makes games such as the flight simulator Super Strike Eagle and the fantasy game Darklands.

MicroProse announced last month that it lost nearly $5 million in the quarter that ended March 31, and would likely report another significant loss for the quarter that ended June 30.