EA shuts down Pandemic Studios

[TwwIX]

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=61280

Just after they finished 'The Saboteur'.
You stay classy, EA.

 

[Barnz]

that was unexpected
I know they were going to let go some devs, but why shut down

Edit:

Kotaku reports that The Saboteur IP will be moved over to EA Montreal, the team responsible for Army of Two, Skate It, and Spore Hero.

 

[Combine Hybrid]

Probably because Mercenaries 2 bombed really bad and EA wasn't too impressed with the Saboteur.

 

[smwScott]

I really haven't liked any of their games except for the first Full Spectrum Warrior, although the Saboteur looks promising.

Honestly it probably wasn't a bad call.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

A good business decision, though it sucks to see people lose jobs. They're trying to consolidate valuable IPs and ditch the extra fat so they can compete with the ten ton guerrilla that is now ActiBlizz.

 

[Sedako]

http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?story=61280

Just after they finished 'The Saboteur'.
You stay classy, EA.

I'd rather EA ditch the non-profitable IPs than have them fall behind Activision even more. The more companies Activision gets it's hands on, the worse off gamers will be.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Well, they arent totally gone it seems...

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61284

 

[Apocalypse89]

It's kind of weird seeing people actually cheering for EA here.

 

[TwwIX]

I'd rather EA ditch the non-profitable IPs than have them fall behind Activision even more. The more companies Activision gets it's hands on, the worse off gamers will be.

"Mercenaries 2 has sold 1.9 million copies"

How is that non profitable?


This is just business as usual for EA. It's not a matter of quality nor quantity.
This studio had at least 3 solid franchises.
No, they're just cutting out the better paid devs and giving the rights to one of their lesser paid monkeys to butcher.
I mean, EA Montreal? Really?
They are the epitome of lackluster.

 

[Raziaar]

WHY GOD WHY COULDN'T THIS BE THE FULL NAME OF THE THREAD?

 

[Wanted Bob]

It's kind of weird seeing people actually cheering for EA here.

I for one am really sad that Pandemic has been, at the very least, cut down to just a core team. I really enjoyed the games they made, including Star Wars Battlefront, Destroy All Humans, and Mercenaries.

 

[Barnz]

EA shuts down Raziaar's home

including Star Wars Battlefront, Destroy All Humans, and Mercenaries.

Full Spectrum Warrior was good.

 

[Wanted Bob]

So I've heard, I never played it though.

 

[Kadayi]

"Mercenaries 2 has sold 1.9 million copies"

How is that non profitable?

1.9 million across all 3 platforms isn't great tbh, given the expenditure involved in developing for the different systems, as well as the licensing costs for the 360 & PS3.

As a comparison figure, Mass Effect cleared over 2 million on the 360 alone. It probably did about the same on the PC as well.

 

[Shyam]

Well EA did suffer $391 million loss.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

It's kind of weird seeing people actually cheering for EA here.

Cutthroat Neo-Capitalism, brah. Trashing EA for layoffs is old hat, there's a new guy to hate now.

 

[Kadayi]

I feel bad for the people who lost their jobs, but it's business and times are hard. This year we had to let 10% of our staff go. Two guys I worked with got laid off, but it was necessary to insure that the company could weather the storm in terms of income Vs expenditure.

As for good will, I think EA have turned around a lot with John Riccitiello now in charge and the emphasis has definitely shifted towards the quality of their games, which is a good thing.

The fact that they make things like www.dragonagejourneys.com or the http://simsocial.thesims3.com available for free to compliment their products is great tbh.

Plus Jeff Green works for them now so, much good will there. Presently he's doing the EA Podcast and it's quite insightful and transparent about what EA are upto and the ups and downs of game development.

 

[jimbo118]

Wonder how The Saboteur will turn out.

 

[Darkside55]

Mercenaries 2 bombed really bad

Oh no
oh no
oh no

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

 

[Combine Hybrid]

Just Cause 2 looks more fun than either mercenaries 2 and the saboteur.

 

[63]

As for good will, I think EA have turned around a lot with John Riccitiello now in charge and the emphasis has definitely shifted towards the quality of their games, which is a good thing.

Yeah...

http://www.marketrap.com/article/vi...wn-company-and-closes-it-down-two-years-later

 

[Saturos]

So much for Mercenaries 3 which would've probably been set somewhere in Africa, but there's already Far Cry 2 for that, and RF:Guerrilla's destruction puts Mercenaries' to shame.

 

[Paulaner]

Yeah...
http://www.marketrap.com/article/vi...wn-company-and-closes-it-down-two-years-later

You will try hard to find clean, honest people in the world of money and business. The guys at EA are not worse than others.

 

[Absinthe]

You will try hard to find clean, honest people in the world of money and business. The guys at EA are not worse than others.

I think he was more trying to say that EA is still headed by scumbags.

 

[63]

I think he was more trying to say that EA is still headed by scumbags.

That.

Just bugs me when people (in general, not this thread) play the "X is now evil, we all love Y now for no reason!" game.

 

[TwwIX]

Evil is a bit far fetched. They are a bunch of assholes though. It's not the first time that they have done this. They acquire a studio, grab their IP's then get rid of the original developers once they have used them up.