News has come in that Electronic Arts' restructuring plans have hit their Black Box studio, with 200 of their 350+ staff laid off.

Black Box is the studio behind the Need for Speed series and the recently released Skate 2. The rest of the staff that remained in the studio will be folded into EA's Burnaby studio.

Kotaku managed to get a hold of a copy of the memo sent to the remaining employees. It is supposedly written by EA Canada's general manager, Rory Armes, though it's authenticity is unconfirmed. (Certain info left out so you don't go stalking them):

From: Armes, Rory

Subject: Today at Black Box

Importance: High

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.

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.

So we're asking that you take the rest of the day off and leave the studio as soon as possible. This will allow us to meet the needs of the affected employees and put all our resources into helping them through this challenging day.

We will regroup as a team tomorrow morning at 10am in the XXXX Ballroom at the XXXX Hotel, XXXX. The quickest way to access the meeting room is to enter the building from the XXXX.

We know you have lots of questions, but we ask that you save them until tomorrow morning. We'll have a good discussion about Black Box and our future at that time.

Rory/Brett/Marcel

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More carnage from Electronic Arts:

• More casualties: EA layoffs hit Warhammer and Madden studios
• Confirmed: layoffs hit EA Tiburon