Update: this has now been confirmed true by Electronic Arts

Pandemic Studios, the developers behind Star Wars: Battlefront, Mercenaries, Full Spectrum Warrior and the soon to be released Sabetour, is being shutting down effective immediately.

Though still unconfirmed, according to Kotaku 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.

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 (along with Bioware) were purchased in 2007 by Electronic Arts.

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

This is all still rumor but I wish everyone involved at Pandemic good luck in finding work elsewhere within the gaming industry.

Comments (6)

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majorbromly said:

... It's sad to see a quality studio go down. Not only have they all lost their jobs, we're deprived of anything they could have done in the future. I would imagine EA could have pulled the plug on a less successful studio.

November 17, 2009

narde15 said:

... I was just looking at the Saboteur Dev diaries and it looks good. They could have at least let them finish it!

November 17, 2009

Stallmeplease said:

... RIP PANDEMIC. It is sad for many reasons. People out of work is never a good sign, plus, in my opinion, Pandemic had a lot of potentional

November 17, 2009

ExtremeOne316 said:

... The sad thing about this are the people that were let go but EA is trying to get back on its feet so it was the right thing to do

November 18, 2009

EventHorizon55 said:

... Full Spectrum Warrior and its sequel, Ten Hammers, were among my favorite games! Man, I guess we will never get the 3rd version for present consoles...

November 19, 2009

srichins80 said:

... I have been dieing for a next gen Star Wars: Battlefront. Looks a little less likely now. I hope those who lost their jobs find good work soon. It's tough out there.

November 20, 2009