Black box, the studio responsible for the Need for Speed and Skate franchises has officially been given the chop. EA has said in a press release:

"Shutting down the studio is part of EA’s restructuring plan that hopes to save them US$ 120 million in annual costs. Part of the plan is to reduce their overall workforce by 10%, or 1,000 people."

The press release had also stated the Black Box is only 1 of 9 studios that will be getting consolidated or  shut down. it’s a damn shame isn’t it.

Well as long as they don’t decide to cut any of the guys from Bioware I think we will survive.

Let’s just hope that the upcoming Skate. 2 has been passed on to another game house or at least will get a chance to be finished. And who knows, EA might decide to keep the Need for Speed Franchise and just pass it on to another dev (maybe a better one). We’ll have to wait and see...