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'{{Infobox Company | company_name = Pandemic Studios | company_logo = [[Image:pandemic.jpg|154px]] | company_type = [[Subsidiary]] of [[Electronic Arts]]| company_slogan = N/A | foundation = [[Santa Monica, California]] (1998) | defunct = 2009| location = [[Los Angeles, California]]| key_people = [[Andrew Goldman]], [[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]]<br/>[[Josh Resnick]], [[President]] | industry = [[Software & Programming]]| products = ''[[Full Spectrum Warrior]]''<br>''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars: Battlefront]] ([[Star Wars: Battlefront|I]] & [[Star Wars: Battlefront II |II]])''<br>[[Destroy All Humans! (series)|Destroy All Humans!]] ([[Destroy All Humans! |1]] & [[Destroy All Humans! 2 |2]])''<br>''[[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction|Mercenaries]] series''<br>([[#Games|See complete products listing]]) | homepage = [http://www.pandemicstudios.com/ www.pandemicstudios.com] }} '''Pandemic Studios''' was originally founded as an independent developer in 1998, it became a [[Electronic Arts]]-owned developer from 2007 to 2009, when it was officially closed. It was an [[United States|American]] [[video game developer]] with offices in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]. The studio is notable for featuring fully-destructible environments in its games. Notable titles include ''[[Full Spectrum Warrior]]'', ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront]]'', ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' and ''[[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction]]''. ==History== The company's president was [[Josh Resnick]] and its [[CEO]] was Andrew Goldman &mdash; both formerly worked at [[Activision]], and Pandemic was founded with an [[equity investment]] by Activision in 1998. Pandemic's first two games, ''[[Battlezone II: Combat Commander|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 [[real-time strategy|RTS]] game using the ''Dark Reign 2'' engine. This studio would later develop ''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. However, both companies will retain their brands and identities<ref>''[http://tgnforums.stardock.com/?ForumID=141&AID=91131 Bioware & Pandemic Merge]'' - [[TotalGaming.net]] news, [[3 November]], [[2005]]</ref>. 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 [[Federal Trade Commission|FTC]] approval.<ref>''[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071011006083&newsLang=en EA To Acquire BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios]''</ref> In February 2009, their office in [[Brisbane]], [[Australia]] was shut down.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ausgamers.com/news/read/2707354|title=Pandemic Brisbane Shut Down |date=2009-02-11|accessdate=2009-02-12|publisher=Ausgamers.com}}</ref> In November 2009, Electronic Arts cut a total of 1500 jobs which affected various studios, including a complete shutdown of Pandemic. On November 17, 2009, EA officially confirmed Pandemic Studios' closure, laying off 228 employees. EA absorbed 35 Pandemic employees to support ''The Saboteur'' and an unannounced project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/5406830/confirmed-ea-closes-pandemic-studios-says-brand-will-live-on |title=Confirmed: EA Closes Pandemic Studios, Says Brand Will Live On |author=Brian Crecente |date=November 17, 2009 |work= |publisher=[[Kotaku]] |accessdate=November 17, 2009 }}</ref> In response, a few former employees of Pandemic created an [[Office Space]]-style video where they're shown mercilessly smashing their office printer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamekiq.com/wordpress/2009/11/23/pandemic-studios-employees-smash-printer-office-spacegoodbye-layoffs/ |title=This is the Way to Go Out: Pandemic Says Goodbye |author=GameKiq |date=November 23, 2009 |work= |publisher=[[GameKiq]] |accessdate=November 23, 2009 }}</ref> ==Teams== At the time of closing, several development teams existed inside Pandemic: * [[Full Spectrum Warrior]] team, responsible for the original game as well as its sequel, ''[[Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers]]''. * [[Star Wars]] team, who developed the ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront]]'' series, * [[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction|Mercenaries]] team, has recently finished production on ''[[Mercenaries 2: World in Flames]]'', which was released on August 31st 2008, published by [[EA Games]]. * ''[[The Saboteur (2009 video game)|The Saboteur]]'' team, who are currently developing the game ''[[The Saboteur (2009 video game)|The Saboteur]]'' which is a game chronicling the adventures of a French resistance fighter during WWII. * The [[Brisbane]] Team was working on many projects, including Projects B and Q, ''[[The Dark Knight (video game)|The Dark Knight]]'' video game, and ''The Next Big Thing'' (an episodic Wii game), when their branch was closed. All the games they had in production were canceled. The team was the first team part of Pandemic Studios to close, closing in 2008, one year prior to the main studios' closing. ==Games== Pandemic Studios developed the first two main titles of the successful ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars: Battlefront series]]'' namely [[Star Wars: Battlefront]] and [[Star Wars: Battlefront II]] as well as [[Full Spectrum Warrior]] and the [[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction|Mercenaries]] series. The studio also developed the last game in the [[Army Men (series)|Army Men series]] published by [[The 3DO Company|3DO]], [[Army Men RTS]]. The studio was also responsible for developing the first two games in the [[Destroy All Humans! (series)|Destroy All Humans! series]]. The studio's final project released was [[The Saboteur (2009 video game)|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. Both projects were rumored to be based on the Mercenaries franchise. Many projects that were being developed at Pandemic's Brisbane studios were also cancelled when it closed including [[The Dark Knight (video game)|The Dark Knight]] and two unannounced games, Project B and Q, were in development at time of closure. The listings of Project B and Q disappeared from Pandemic's Official Site on the day of the Brisbane Studio's closure. {| class="wikitable" ! Release<br> Date ! Title ! Genre/Notes |- | [[1999 in video gaming|1999]] | ''[[Battlezone II]]'' | [[First-person shooter]], [[real-time strategy]] |- | [[2000 in video gaming|2000]] | ''[[Dark Reign 2]]'' | real-time strategy |- | rowspan="3"| [[2002 in video gaming|2002]] | ''Triple Play 2002'' | [[Sports]] |- | ''[[Army Men RTS]]'' | real-time strategy |- | ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002 video game)|Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'' | [[Action game|Action]] |- | rowspan="2"| [[2004 in video gaming|2004]] | ''[[Full Spectrum Warrior]]'' | [[Real-time tactics]], [[Soldier sim|Combat Simulation]] |- | ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront]]'' | [[First-person shooter]], [[third-person shooter]] |- | rowspan="3"| [[2005 in video gaming|2005]] | ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront II]]'' | First-person shooter, third-person shooter |- | ''[[Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction]]'' | Third-person shooter |- | ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' | Third-person shooter, [[Adventure game|Adventure]] |- | rowspan="2"| [[2006 in video gaming|2006]] | ''[[Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers]]'' | Real-time tactics, Combat Simulation |- | ''[[Destroy All Humans! 2]]'' | Third-person shooter, Adventure |- | [[2008 in video gaming|2008]] | ''[[Mercenaries 2: World in Flames]]'' | Third-person shooter |- | rowspan="2"| [[2009 in video gaming|2009]] | ''[[The Lord of the Rings: Conquest]]'' | Action |- | ''[[The Saboteur (2009 video game)|The Saboteur]]'' | [[Action-adventure game|Action/adventure]], Third-person shooter, [[Stealth game|Stealth]], [[Sandbox game|Sandbox]] |- | rowspan="2"| Status Unknown | ''Project X''<ref name="Secret Projects">[http://www.pandemicstudios.com/proj_x.php Secret Projects]</ref> | Initially rumored to be [[Star Wars: Battlefront III]], but later debunked<ref>[http://www.pandemicstudios.com/community/viewtopic.php?pid=603741#p603741 Pandemic Studios Forums Post]</ref><ref>[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=210196 Article later posted]</ref> |- | ''Project Y''<ref>[http://www.pandemicstudios.com/corp/currentprojects Current Projects Site]</ref> | |- | rowspan="3"| Cancelled | [[The Dark Knight (video game)|The Dark Knight]]<ref>http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88736-Screwing-Up-Batman</ref> | |- | ''Project B'' | rowspan="2"| Either Project B or Q was ''The Next Big Thing'', previously titled ''No Limits Racing'', for the [[Wii]].<br/>The project was supposed to utilize [[Mii]]'s and feature celebrity cameos like [[Mr. T]] and [[David Hasselhoff]]. |- | ''Project Q'' |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.pandemicstudios.com/ Official website] [[Category:Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences members]] [[Category:Companies established in 1998]] [[Category:Defunct video game companies]] [[Category:Electronic Arts]] [[Category:Video game companies of the United States]] [[Category:Video game developers]] [[Category:Companies disestablished in 2009]] [[de:Pandemic Studios]] [[es:Pandemic Studios]] [[fr:Pandemic Studios]] [[nl:Pandemic Studios]] [[simple:Pandemic Studios]] [[sv:Pandemic Studios]]'