The global economy is in the toilet as a result of the “financial tsunami,” and it seems like there’s never been a worse time to be working in the videogame industry. Companies are shrinking left and right, or shutting their doors outright, but EA seems to have had it particularly rough, what with their new IPs not selling very well. At the end of October, they cut their staff by six percent, and in mid-November, they reportedly closed a “secret” division.

Last week, the publishing giant revealed it had decided against moving into a new 20,000-square-foot space in the Yaletown area of downtown Vancouver, a building that would’ve housed both EA Canada (currently located in Burnaby, just east of Vancouver) and EA Black Box (downtown Vancouver). And from an episode of Electric Playground came rumors that, due to Need for Speed Undercover’s poor sales, EA was canceling the entire franchise.

However, recent updates have indicated otherwise -- though it spells bad news for EA any way you slice it. Joystiq received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to be an EA employee, who noted that the NFS franchise has been worked on by three teams at Black Box for a while. Those teams willl now be consolidated into one team -- which likely means that we’ll see new entries in the series being spaced out further apart.

In addition, while Need for Speed is probably still alive, it appears that the Black Box studio no longer is. The report went on to say that the 350-person development house, home to the Need for Speed and skate franchises, “most likely is” being closed down by EA. Apparently, the remaining members of the NFS and skate teams will be moved to the much larger EA Canada studio out in Burnaby (January’s release of skate 2 looks to be the studio’s last game). In fact, the informant even suggested that one of the future NFS games would be developed by Guildford, UK-based Criterion Games, and that the title would use the engine from their renowned Burnout series.

There’s not much one can say in tough times like these -- but assuming these reports are true, our hearts go out to all the hardworking men and women who will be losing their jobs; we hope they get back on their feet soon. You hate for this to happen at all, but it’s especially hard to hear about at this time of year. We’ll pour a few 40s out for our fallen comrades.

[Thanks, DJDuffy!]