Unconfirmed speculation has surfaced from several news outlets that EA will soon close its Black Box studio in Vancouver.

Rumours of the departure of Black Box began at game site elecplay.com, where a news report claimed to have gathered information from an unspecified source that the Need for Speed franchise is to be canned by EA.

EA director of communications Colin Macrae reportedly told the site that “we're working through a process on people, products, and facilities at EA and don't have any announcements today.”

Following this, 1Up received a slightly revised tip from a purported EA employee (anon) that Need for Speed is not ending, but the studio which develops it, Black Box, will “most likely” be shut down.

The speculation is centred on last week’s news that EA has abandoned the opportunity to build a new studio in Vancouver. 1Up’s source claims that this was not the only executive decision EA has made regarding its Canadian operations, as the firm has reportedly decided to close Black Box altogether and move the studio’s key works – Need For Speed and Skate – to the nearby Burnaby studios.

The source made further claims that there are three different teams within Black Box that work on Need for Speed, which will now consolidate into one and ultimately mean less Need for Speed games. Conversely, Edge had previously reported that there were two teams working on the Need for Speed franchise, as EA CEO John Riccitiello said in an investors meeting back in June that the franchise’s development team was split into “two” and both given extended 24-month deadlines:

“We were torturing a very talented group of people up in Vancouver, which makes it harder to be innovative ever year. So, I think we are going to get better from here. Last summer we added head count and split the team in two, so now there are two teams on a 24 month cycle. And this is sort of their first 16 and a half month game ... because we didn't do it far enough ago to give us a full two year dev cycle,” he said.

While the ongoing speculation has so far found to have such holes in its claim, it was only last week when EA announced that it will make “additional associated headcount reductions and facility consolidations.” This announcement followed the firm’s decision – made late in October – to cut some 600 jobs in light of EA’s weakening financial performance.

Last Week, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian claimed that EA’s outlook is not set to improve in the distant future, and that the company is likely to make more staff cuts due to lower retail sales of Need for Speed: Undercover, Mirror's Edge and Rock Band 2.

“We believe further cost and franchise reductions are likely," he said. "Importantly, we believe EA is continuing to review its cost structure and franchise base, and it is possible that management will announce further cuts in headcount and the development pipeline (including existing franchises) over the coming quarters,” he said.

Late in November Need for Speed: Undercover fell into fourth in the UK all-format charts, marking it as the lowest next-gen chart position for a NFS title in its debut week. The game has received poor reviews and has sold far short of expectations.

Edge has contacted EA for comment.