EA back to its old mgmt style? closes down Pandemic Studios.

[Thunder Force]

See article: http://www.marketrap.com/article/view_a ... ears-later

Just when we thought the era of EA corp buying-then-killing productive studios was behind us.

Sure, Pandemic may not be quite as AAA as past victims like Origin Systems, but they put out some solid and top-selling work (Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2) before EA acquired their company...

[Ganelon]

Eat and spit out weak competitors. Eat, suck dry, and spit out strong competitors. What a nightmare and waste of intellectual property...

[Skykid]

But they put out some solid and top-selling work (Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2) before EA acquired their company...

They were pretty much my favourite Star Wars games ever.

EA have always been total cocks, I dislike everything they stand for.

They did publish the Battle Garegga port though.

[BulletMagnet]

I'm not familiar with Pandemic's games, but in the past year or so I have praised EA in particular for publishing Mirror's Edge and Henry Hatsworth (I haven't played it, but I also give them props for picking up Brutal Legend) - nixing a studio this far into a title's development definitely recalls their less pleasant history, however.

[BryanM]

Mythic is next in line for the bullet of death.

Bioware and Maxis look like the main long term survivors of the grab and grope technique.

Here's hoping All Points Bulletin will survive the profit monster.

[Damocles]

Figures. I loved Mercs 1 and really enjoyed Mercs 2. DAH!, at least the first few, were ace as well.

I wonder how this will affect "The Saboteur".

[Ed Oscuro]

This discussion came up a week or so ago at DP Forums - after reading a bit more I can't say I really care. Sure they did Battlezone II, but that's about all I cared for. The original Mercs seems to have been great, the encore somewhat less. Didn't do much of note otherwise. To me, Pandemic represents the past.

It must be given that EA has done some good lately. Publishing agreement with Valve, moving away from their own clunky in-house DL system (Download Manager) and towards a standard. In tougher economic times they're just doing what any other company would, which is shuffle the stack to bring their costs down.

About half the folks from one of the studios were going to be merged into another studio. Bad news for the folks who aren't getting an invitation extended of course.

[Super Laydock]

Not closing, just consolidating.
Not that the people getting sacked will care about the terminology.

[Damocles]

And now from the WTF? category...


http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news ... s-Inc.html


Oddly enough, I still have hope...though I suppose it will be heavily, if not exclusively, multiplayer focused.

[kengou]

Apparently the Saboteur has gone gold, so it'll still come out.

sucks for everyone layed off though, I loved the Battlefront games.

[Vexorg]

I don't care much for EA, but lately Activision has managed to do a pretty convincing job of stealing the title of "most evil company in the gaming industry" away from them. I have still largely avoided buying their stuff since they bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license.

[Thunder Force]

I have still largely avoided buying their stuff since they bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license.

Unfortunately they own Bioware now, and there's no way I'm ever going to boycott a Bioware game...

[Skykid]

I don't care much for EA, but lately Activision has managed to do a pretty convincing job of stealing the title of "most evil company in the gaming industry" away from them.

Yeah, but at least Activision aren't all shit, and have a decent pedigree. They weren't always this successful - they worked pretty hard to get what they've got in the current gen with some decent investments and risks.

I just associate EA with everything I don't like about games.

[Vexorg]

I have still largely avoided buying their stuff since they bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license.

Unfortunately they own Bioware now, and there's no way I'm ever going to boycott a Bioware game...

They also publish all of Harmonix's stuff, which is another one I find tough to avoid (I'm not great at Rock Band, but I do still enjoy it.)

[Taylor]

I'm not familiar with Pandemic's games, but in the past year or so I have praised EA in particular for publishing Mirror's Edge and Henry Hatsworth (I haven't played it, but I also give them props for picking up Brutal Legend) - nixing a studio this far into a title's development definitely recalls their less pleasant history, however.

And Dead Space and Brutal Legend. Of course, none of them have sold very well.

Figures. I loved Mercs 1 and really enjoyed Mercs 2. DAH!, at least the first few, were ace as well.

I wonder how this will affect "The Saboteur".

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.ph ... tcount=309

I was one of the affected today.

Having worked at Pandemic for close to 5 years, it's a bittersweet moment. We literally just finished Saboteur and are extremely proud of the game it turned out to be, considering the amount of hardships we had during development. On the other hand, we now have no job and are forced to part our ways with people we hold dear to our hearts.

I can tell you one thing. The reason why the studio closed down has everything to do with the existing Pandemic management. From what we were told, Pandemic management was given free reign to do as they please. Time and time again, they dropped the ball with bad decisions (promoting/keeping people based on loyalty, no production accountability, misallocation of resources, poor milestone objectives, no mentoring, etc.). It's a true shame, as there was a lot of talent and passion at the studio.

I wouldn't necessarily hate on JR and EA's execs just yet. In my eyes, they probably made the right decision as Pandemic cost a lot to upkeep and, quite frankly, the last few products weren't up to snuff. I think many of you would be surprised how much a game like Saboteur costs to make (think ~100 people for 3 years + ~20 people for ~2 years). Add overhead cost to incompetence in management/direction and you have a pretty convincing case to cut your ties and call it a day. It probably doesn't look good for JR considering he made a cool 5 mil off of the sale of Pandemic/Bioware.

One more thing I will say: EA is totally sending Saboteur out to die. And it's a fucking shame. It's easily Pandemic's best game yet. Of course, I am a bit biased having worked on the game for so long. If you were disappointed with Mercs2 and LOTR (who wasn't) and enjoyed previous Pandemic games, give Saboteur a shot.

Bioware and Maxis look like the main long term survivors of the grab and grope technique.

Well, Will Wright is no longer at Maxis...