Even though two (hopefully) awesome games are getting released today, not all things are smiles and sunshine in the game industry. Pandemic Studios, notable for the Mercenaries, Star Wars: Battlefront and Full Spectrum Warrior series, has shut their doors today, folding core staff into EA’s Los Angeles Studio and letting go over 200 people.
It’s a real shame that this developer is being disbanded even though its original IPs are going to live on under a full EA brand. Because Pandemic released several average, some would say disappointing, games over the past few years, this isn’t really that big of a surprise. Perhaps the biggest blow to the studio was the cancellation of the Dark Knight game, which was apparently such a mess that it wouldn’t even be released close to the DVD premier of the movie.
The last title to come from the developer will be The Saboteur, a 1940s underground resistance game. With the closure of the studio, I thought it would be appropriate to have a remembrance of sorts. Share your thoughts on your favorite Pandemic games, or postulate on what this means for other smaller studios that are under the umbrella of an EA or an Activision.
Personally, my favorite game from Pandemic is the original Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. That game was really ahead of its time when it came out, and I played the hell out of it. What about you guys?
Source: Kotaku
Battlefronts would have to be the big thing for me.
They were great games, my friend and I spent countless hours just playing that while sitting on his floor with mass amounts of blankets, pillows, and Dr.Pepper.
ah, the good old days.
I thought Mercenaries 2 was good, not amzing but still really fun. I’m kinda saddened by this but my friend who LOVES Mercs will be distraught when I tell him. I really hope those that get laid off bounce back quickly.
I played the life out of Star Wars Battlefront, I don’t know what it was about that game, but i loved it mroe than any other games on my PS2.
Besides that me and my friend would play Full Spectrum warrior obsessively, i still think to this day that FSW was the most realistic game i’ve ever played.
feeling the need to bust out some full spectrum warrior. I never liked it that they also never came out with a third battlefront game
I have an enormous “Nostalgia-eBoner” for Army Men games (PS)… I also despise anything remotely RTS (Why I gave up on SPORE)… I’ve got to say that ArmyMen RTS was really one of the only RTS games that I ever cared to give a serious chance to..
I’m also really excited about The Saboteur. Looks like some real potential there!
Battlefron II. Me and my brother had some epic wars on Polis Massa.
Dude this almost brought me to tears when I read this. I have spent countless hours on mercs 1 and mercs 2 was great. But you had it wrong Mercenaries 1 was playground of destruction and Mercenaries 2 was world in flames.
Argh, you’re right! I have brought shame to my family. Even a quick edit will not erase my failure.