Game over for EA's Vancouver studio

This computer image provided by Electronic Arts, Inc. via the Obama Campaign shows an advertisement for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., inserted in the XBox360 Live version of the video game NBA Live 08. (AP Photo / Electronic Arts, Inc. via Obama Campaign)

Video game maker Electronic Arts is consolidating its operations in B.C. by closing its Vancouver studio and moving staff to its Burnaby facility.

Electronic Arts, also known as EA, has about 2,500 employees in Canada, with about 1,700 in the Vancouver area and the rest in Edmonton and Montreal.

All of the Vancouver staff will move to Burnaby along with EA's Black Box studio, which is known for the popular driving game "Need for Speed."

The move comes a week after EA cancelled plans to expand into a new video game development studio in Vancouver.

All of this is part of a restructuring plan in which the California-based company is cutting 10 per cent of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, in a bid to save about $120 million a year.

EA recently lowered its 2009 revenue and earnings expectations, citing a drop in sales across North America and Europe.