Pandemic Studios Closes + LucasArts Hiring for Multiplayer Position

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:11:08 +0000

Well, this came to me as a surprise, Pandemic Studios has officially been shut down by their owners, Electronic Arts. Apparently all of Pandemics current works will be passed on to another EA studio. I guess this rules out the possibility of Pandemic releasing Battlefront 3.. doh!

Here some info on the Pandemic Studios closing, courtesy of Kotaku.com

Pandemic Studios – the developers behind Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries – will today be closed down by owners Electronic Arts, according to several sources close to the situation.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard this – far from it – but we had previously been unaware of the timing of the move.

Though still unconfirmed, according to our sources almost all of 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. The move is expected to be announced to Pandemic staff at 11 a.m. PT.

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 were purchased in 2007 by Electronic Arts, where things should have been on the up and up.

Instead, the company released a succession of lacklustre sequels, and took a body-blow when Pandemic’s Australian experiment failed following the cancellation of the costly – and doomed – Dark Knight game, which resulted in the closure of Pandemic’s Brisbane studio.

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

Remember, as of yet, this is all unconfirmed; we’d expect an official announcement on the closure later today. We’ve contacted Electronic Arts for an official statement and will update this post when and if they respond.

Here’s an updated post from Joystiq.com stating that even though Pandemic is closing all the IP’s, including Star Wars Battelfront will “live on”.

We’ve got a little more perspective on the closing of Pandemic, which was rumored earlier today. Though the studio will physically close, and the majority of its staff (some 200 people) will be sacked, the brand and IPs (like Mercenaries, Star Wars: Battlefront and The Saboteur) will continue, EA representative Holly Rockwood told Joystiq. Founders Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman, Greg Borrud will leave the company.

A lucky few from Pandemic will continue the studio’s work under the EALA roof in Playa Vista, reporting to GM Sean Decker. Here’s hoping that those who aren’t as fortunate won’t have to go too long without work.

On the plus side, LucasArts is currently looking for a Multiplayer/Networking Engineer, which could be good news if they’re planning on developing a new Battlefront game for us. The job description includes the following:

The Multiplayer Engineer will focus on multiplayer programming for upcoming LucasArts games. 3+ years experience in the area of Network & Multiplayer engineering specifically for console games, and prior programming experience on XBOX360 or PS3 is required. Broad understanding of computer and game networking systems, including DNS, NAT, firewall, security methods, peer-to-peer and client server models also a must.

Check out the job advertisment here.

Thanks for all the comments in the last post about the Battlefront 3 leaked footage and the Elite Squadron footage, and i’m not blind thank you, the footage looked similar to me. Keep the comments coming!

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Pandemic Studios Closes + LucasArts Hiring for Multiplayer Position