EA Trims Losses With Major Shutdown
Ever since the blockbuster Electronic Arts buyout of Bioware/Pandemic, 2 years ago, rumors have swirled about the future of Pandemic– a studio known for their work on Star Wars: Battlefront, Destroy all Humans!, Mercenaries, and, currently, The Saboteur. Well, it seems like some of those rumors may have finally been true.
Effective immediately, the formally independent Pandemic studio is being shutdown, and many of the employees being laid off. Only a “core team” of the team will be reassigned to EA Los Angeles.
Brown on the news:
“Today we informed employees at Pandemic that development on all the Pandemic franchises is being consolidated at EALA. As a result, we are eliminating roughly 200 positions at Pandemic.
“That said, EA is very committed to the Pandemic brand, and a core team of Pandemic developers will be developing existing franchises and other projects at EALA.”
However, this closure will not affect the release of The Saboteur; which is slated for release early next month.
Pandemic’s run with EA as its parent company has not been good. The company’s first title, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames received widespread disapproval. Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Pandemic’s second title, was not much better received. Although sales figures are not available at this time, it is safe to assume both of these games produced abysmal sales figures.
It should be noted–before the buyout, 2 years ago, Pandemic made absolutely stellar games, all of which were commercial success.
What are your opinions on this matter? Is this just Electronic Arts trying to make a good business move? Or is there something deeper going on here? Post yours thoughts and feelings in the comments section below.
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5 Responses to “EA Trims Losses With Major Shutdown”
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November 17th, 2009 at 9:42 PM
This is what happens when you are taken over and not appreciated, you start losing that competitive edge that made you great.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:28 PM
I’d say it has to do as much with EA as it does with Pandemic. They were making stellar titles before being purchased. Yet somehow all that disappeared as soon as EA took over? I’d really like to hear from the ex-employees themselves about what kind of changes happened in the workplace after the purchase of their company, both positive and negative.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:22 PM
@ John Draisey agreed
November 18th, 2009 at 12:50 PM
If Pandemic was making good enough games to not need E.A. they would have put in the contract that they get to keep most of the control over their franchises and other things that would keep themselves in charge of their products.
I mean it’s not like EA did a hostile take over right? There was an agreement and a transaction done? You really can’t fault E.A. unless there is evidence that E.A. forced themselves and were being dictatorial.
EA makes some bad games, they make some good games, and then they are part of some stellar games. Bioware is doing fine.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:31 PM
I hate buyouts, it just forces good teams apart. Creative minds separate so they can do what they love, becuase things will not work as they did under their prime conditions. So they scatter, and some start again- building another team and company up…. and hopefully sneaking under the radar and not getting targeted as a company that needs to be absorbed.
Irritating. It’s like a child mentality- If it’s shiny, they want it, and then- after some struggle- they get it, and it slowly loses its appeal, and they forget what the big deal was, and move on.