EA rumoured to have closed Pandemic studio

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 14th January 2009

It's only a rumour for now, but EA has allegedly told Pandemic's Brisbane studio to find a new publisher.

This is still marked firmly under the rumour category for now, but according to some sources Electronic Arts has distanced itself from Pandemic Studios' Brisbane office.

Note that we say 'distanced' though, as a reliable source has told Kotaku that the studio hasn't been closed as such, but just seperated from the company. Apparently the development team has been allowed to keep all equipment and licenses they currently have, but will no longer work with EA.

Electronic Arts bought Pandemic Studios, developer of the Mercenaries games and the upcoming Lord of The Rings: Conquest, along with BioWare back in 2007.

While it seems that EA will continue to work with the rest Pandemic Studios the Brisbane office, which was best known for the Destroy All Humans! games, has been singled out and shuffled off. No mention has been made regarding Pandemic's other studio in LA.

"It was more of a 'Find a new publisher. Good luck.' kind of thing," claimed Kotaku's source, who also said that the studio was also working on a game based on The Dark Knight, which EA had cancelled due to a lack of direction.

It's unclear what Pandemic Brisbane will do at this point, but the last active project the team was said to have in development was an "open world reality show" for the Wii, dubbed The Next Big Thing.

We're still waiting for more news on the validity of the rumour, but with job-cuts hitting all over the placed lately it does seem that the story contains some truth. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.