Over 200 staff axed at EA Black Box

Electronic Arts' continues to axe staff at its internal studios, with over 200 members of Black Box let go yesterday.

The studio had over 350 members, and had just shipped Skate 2 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

According to an internal memo from general manager Rory Armes, reprinted by Kotaku, the remaining staff were sent home as it dealt with the lay-offs.

"A short time ago, a number of your colleagues were asked to attend a session to discuss important news at Black Box. Unfortunately, the purpose of that meeting is to inform those employees that their positions at Black Box have been eliminated," wrote Armes.

"The rest of our energy and focus for today is solely devoted to the people affected by this news. Rest assured that we will be doing everything we can to treat our affected colleagues with dignity and respect, and help them through this transition. It's a tough, emotional day for all of us, but obviously much more so for those who received the news today."

As Electronic Arts looks to reduce its headcount by 1000 staff, it is working its way through internal studios. The axe has already fallen on the EA Sports team at Tiburon and Warhammer developer Mythic. Pandemic's Australian studio in Brisbane has also been cut loose from EA.

All eyes are now on EA's other internal studios, including the Battlefield team DICE in Sweden and Burnout studio Criterion, to see if these will be hit with job cuts.