Pandemic: 1998-2009

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Bummer. Last week marked a pretty grim reality check for artists and game developers alike. Pandemic Studios was shut down by it’s parent company EA in an effort to raise profit margins and narrow it’s development focus.

Started in 1998, Pandemic has been responsible for the “Destroy All Humans!” franchise, “Star Wars: Battlefront”, and “Full Spectrum Warrior” to name a few. More recently “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” and “Lord of the Rings: Conquest”, their latest releases, haven’t done well with critics or audiences unfortunately and “The Saboteur“, which ships in just a couple of weeks, will be the last title released by the original Pandemic. Part of the studio has been assumed under EA Los Angeles and it looks as though EA will be continuing development of some of the franchises under the Pandemic brand. Unfortunately, 200 jobs, including the three founders of Pandemic, have been cut. It comes at a particularly difficult time as the holidays are just around the corner and California’s economy isn’t exactly booming these days. I wish all those affected including their families the best moving forward. Sorry to hear the news.

In a pretty hilarious gesture of protest, a few of the now former Pandemic employees decided to shoot the following video in an effort to vent some frustration, and perhaps make fun out of a pretty awful situation. Well played sirs. Well played.