Earlier this week gaming site 1Up heard that EA is shutting down it's Japanese development studio. The studio has so far only released Theme Park for the DS, which was a port that cost only a half year of development, and thus it doesn't have a "great track-record," says an EA employee. Things have gone better since the switch from Xbox 360 and PS3 to the Nintendo DS, but still the studio will be forced to close its doors. The closure was also confirmed and explained in more detail. The official statement from EA reads that game creation in Japan will continue, but with external developers under the EA Partners programme, rather than having an EA exclusive studio in the country. Since it seems "My Sims" (see recent confirmation) for the Wii and DS is being developed in Japan, due to the original Japanese announcement, it's uncertain how this closure affects development that title. The game is also not mentioned in the list of games being developed in Japan (Theme Park DS, SimCity DS and Dragon Zakura DS), but then again there are no confirmed details of where the Sims games are actually being developed (besides the Sims Division). Considering the recent confirmation of My Sims as a release for the upcoming fiscal year (April 2007 to March 2008) it's likely that it won't be harmed. SimCity for DS is also being continued at other studios. EA's publishing team in Japan will continue to market games in Japan.