Rumor: RIP Pandemic Studios, 1998-2009

Pandemic Studios - the developers behind Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries - will today be closed down by owners Electronic Arts, according to several sources close to the situation.

It's not the first time we've heard this - far from it - but we had previously been unaware of the timing of the move.

Though still unconfirmed, according to our sources almost all of the studio's staff (around 200 people) in Los Angeles are to be laid off today, with those few remaining to be incorporated into other Electronic Arts development teams. The move is expected to be announced to Pandemic staff at 11 a.m. PT.

Pandemic were first formed in 1998, and for a while there, seemed to be on the verge of becoming one of the world's premier development houses. Following on from the success of Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront, they were purchased in 2007 by Electronic Arts, where things should have been on the up and up.

Instead, the company released a succession of lacklustre sequels, and took a body-blow when Pandemic's Australian experiment failed following the cancellation of the costly - and doomed - Dark Knight game, which resulted in the closure of Pandemic's Brisbane studio.

It's believed Pandemic's remaining IP (including The Saboteur) will be passed onto EA's Montreal studio (Army of Two).

Remember, as of yet, this is all unconfirmed; we'd expect an official announcement on the closure later today. We've contacted Electronic Arts for an official statement and will update this post when and if they respond.

A sad fall from grace...

oh yeah the saboteur

Check out the vgchartz entry I uploaded a lot of pics last week for it.
Game actually looks pretty cool.. it's too bad they're closing.

wait i thought battlefront was free radical??? oh well. mercenaries 2 sucked but saboteur looked interesting, huh wonder what that's gonna turn out like now.

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=mercenaries

If VGC numbers are accurate, Mercs 2 sold almost 2 million copies on 360, PS3 and PS2, plus an unknown number of PC sales.

Yet EA still feels the need to shut them down.

Pandemic was one of my favorite studios. =(

Well what can i say. Every game of theirs i have brought has been crap. They will not be missed. Well not by me anyway.

I say good riddance to a bad developer though i do feel sorry for them loosing the jobs.

Anyone surprised by this by now.

Small developer makes high end product games based on contracts. Developer likes being purchased by big company because of a "safety net". Big company removes net, tight wire and tent. This is not a rare thing.

If you want a to be a company to produce games. Is to keep to your own guns. Don't bet the farm on contract development. I don't recall the last time or ever that Nintendo, Blizzard, Valve, Sierra, EA
While it's a pitty that some good developers are at a temporary loss. I say good riddance to poor business decision.

Sad. Battlefront and Mercenaries rocked my socks last gen.

In the grand scheme of things they won't be missed.

The Saboteur won't do so good next month