According to GlobeAndMail, EA has decided to cancel the construction of their new gaming development studio in Vancouver, mainly because of slow holiday sales and the decline of the general economy.

“These are challenging times, they’re uncertain times for our industry and across the board,” EA spokesman Colin Macrae told The Globe and Mail. “We continue to be firmly rooted in Vancouver.”

The video game maker still operates two studios in the Vancouver area; the company’s Black Box studio is located in downtown Vancouver, while its sister studio EA Canada operates out of nearby Burnaby.

The new unnamed studio was to be housed in a 20,000-square-foot facility in the city’s Yaletown district, and would have provided the company with new development space to accommodate its Vancouver staff. Although planning for the new studio began about a year ago, Mr. Macrae said the company has already leased the space to a new tenant.