Former type Subsidiary Parent Electronic Arts Ceased operations 2009 | Defunct Westwood, CA (2009) Founder Josh Resnick | |
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Industry Interactive entertainment
Computer and video games Key people Andrew Goldman, CEO
Josh Resnick, President Products Full Spectrum Warrior
Star Wars: Battlefront (I & II)
Destroy All Humans! (I & II)
Mercenaries series
(See complete products listing) Headquarters Los Angeles, California, United States Founded 1998, Santa Monica, California, United States Video games The Saboteur, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Star Wars: Battlefront | ||
Pandemic Studios was an independent developer founded in 1998. Between 2007 and 2009 it became an Electronic Arts-owned developer, and shortly afterwards closed. It was an American and Australian video game developer with offices in Los Angeles, California and Brisbane, Australia. Notable titles include Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront, Dark Reign 2, Destroy All Humans!, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Star Wars: Battlefront II and The Saboteur.
Contents
History
The company's president was Josh Resnick and its CEO was Andrew Goldman — both formerly worked at Activision, and Pandemic was founded with an equity investment by Activision in 1998. Pandemic's first two games, Battlezone II and Dark Reign 2, were both sequels to Activision games.
In 2000, Pandemic opened a satellite studio in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley. The first project was Army Men: RTS, a console RTS game using the Dark Reign 2 engine. The studio later developed Destroy All Humans!. In 2003, the Los Angeles studio moved from its founding location at Santa Monica to a high-rise building in Westwood.
In November 2005, it was announced that Pandemic and BioWare would be joining forces, with private equity fund Elevation Partners investing in the partnership. Both companies retained their brands and identities. On October 11, 2007, it was announced that VG Holding Corp., the owners of BioWare and Pandemic Studios, would be acquired by Electronic Arts as of January 2008, subject to FTC approval.
In February 2009, their office in Brisbane, Australia was shut down. In November 2009, Electronic Arts cut a total of 1,500 jobs which affected various studios, including shutting down of Pandemic. On November 17, 2009, EA officially confirmed Pandemic Studios' closure, laying off 228 employees. EA absorbed 35 Pandemic employees into its EA Los Angeles studio to support The Saboteur and an unannounced project which was later revealed to be Mercs Inc, a sequel to the Mercenaries series. In response, a few former employees of Pandemic created an Office Space-style video where they are shown smashing their office printer.
Over a dozen former Pandemic developers are now employed at 343 Industries having worked on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4. Other former employees have gone to work for Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Respawn Entertainment and many others.
Games
Pandemic Studios developed the first two main titles of the successful Star Wars: Battlefront series namely Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II as well as Full Spectrum Warrior and the Mercenaries series. The studio also developed the last game in the Army Men published by 3DO, Army Men: RTS. The studio was also responsible for developing the first two games in the Destroy All Humans! series, and its final project released was The Saboteur.
At time of closure the studio still had multiple projects in development namely Project X and Y which are listed on Pandemic's official site. Project X has been listed since 2007 while Project Y was recently listed in 2009. Soon after the studio's closure it was revealed that Project Y was Mercs Inc, a new title in the Mercenaries series which is being developed by Pandemic Studios at EALA, the Project Y listing on the official site disappeared when the game was announced. In addition, another main Mercenaries game, Mercenaries 3: No Limits, was in production at the time of the studio's closure and was subsequently cancelled. Many projects that were being developed at Pandemic's Brisbane studios were also cancelled when it closed including The Dark Knight and two unannounced games, Project Q and Z.