Analyst Chews Out EA CEO Over Pandemic Closure

[ASnogarD]

Guys are missing the real point here , Firaxis (Civ games) and Irrational games (Bioshock) sells for $38 mil ... and Bioware and Pandemic were bought for $840 mil, sounds damn suspicious to me as well.

If EA had paid $40 mil for them and then got rid of Pandemic , that would of made sense... but $840 mil !!

Something stinks in here, and it aint in the ventilation system.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Well, that's business.

That said, DAH! will always hold a special place in my heart for the most fun I've ever had with telekinesis. They nerfed in the sequels.

 

[Valiance]

Is there any word whether Saboteur will be saved? I want to get my hands on Pandemic's last game... especially since the main character is an Irishman.

This maybe a dumb question, but where does the mess leave The Saboteur?

That one looked vaguely interesting, are Pandemic going to finish it or is on the cutting room floor along with their jobs?

This maybe a dumb question, but where does the mess leave The Saboteur?

That one looked vaguely interesting, are Pandemic going to finish it or is on the cutting room floor along with their jobs?

Was just going to ask this myself. I hadn't even heard of the game until I saw a video on GiantBomb last week. Looked pretty nifty. Like a WW2 Assassins Creed with a chainsmoking Irishman. Gameplay looked wicked fun as well.

As far as I know, Saboteur is complete and is being released December 8. I could be wrong, but I think they're basically releasing this and then going away.

And nothing of value was lost...

Come back after playing Dark Reign 2, please.
(Or Battlezone 2.)

 

[Nurb]

Who's suprised? really. This should be a warning to any developer being eyed by that corporate cannibal

1)get a job with a gaming developer
2)get some publicity with some decent titles
3)your dev team gets purchased by a corporate publisher
4)publisher imposes their will on you as you make "safe" remakes and sequels
5)wait for the day you get fired once your dev team is milked for all it's worth
6)look for another job
7)rinse
8)repeat

 

[iggyus]

Does this mean there is no hope for Battlefront 3?

 

[Caliostro]

Come back after playing Dark Reign 2, please.
(Or Battlezone 2.)

They seem like completely run-of-the-mill RTSs... Particularly Dark Reign 2... Get resources, build shit to build the biggest army you can, steamroll the map.

Can't say I'm the biggest RTS fan in the world though.

 

[Tron-tonian]

The price was *absurdly* high, and should have been investigated further by anyone who knew about his former link to the company. In light of the prices that were paid, that's not just paying a premium, it's lining pockets.

And people wonder why teh economy is in the dumps....

 

[Valiance]

Come back after playing Dark Reign 2, please.
(Or Battlezone 2.)

They seem like completely run-of-the-mill RTSs... Particularly Dark Reign 2... Get resources, build shit to build the biggest army you can, steamroll the map.

Can't say I'm the biggest RTS fan in the world though.

Battlezone 2 wasn't exactly an RTS, at least not in the common sense.

Dark Reign 2 came out in 2000, when what a run-of-the-mill RTS happened to be was something like Age of Empires or Command and Conquer. At the time, the fact that you had a free-floating camera that could actually spin around, and buildings could be rotated in full 3D, and the online interface it had really made it stand out to me. No one I know has heard of it unless they've heard of it from me, but I really think it was a gem in a pile of rocks that no one searched the pile of rocks for. :/

Looking back at it, I can understand why it looks like that in 2009, but the common conventions we've come to expect in an RTS simply weren't present at the time in games other than Dark Reign 2 and TA.

 

[samsonguy920]

This just affirms that we are in for only "safe" games from EA for a while, so don't get your hopes up on any new IP's anytime soon. Unless Riccitello did pull a crapper and he gets busted for it. Maybe.

 

[ND]

The curse of Auran strikes again.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

I... I...
Excuse me while I go and cry in a corner now.
A part of me just died.

 

[Sibbo]

Sorry, I stand corrected. Must've been another ww2 franchise. Then let 'em burn

I think you're thinking of the medal of honor series

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Sucks for those 200 people. But seriously, Pandemic, to me, didn't do all that much. Mercenaries was good mindless fun, and the Battlefront games were solid, but other than that, what did Pandemic do? Not much. And only 200 people worked there? That's pretty low.

 

[jimduckie]

gee just think if ea had bought take 2 and rockstar then what ... mers2 sucking was ea's fault ... sry for the employees though ... as for ea ... well i was always told if i can't say anything nice... but idgas... ea sucks

 

[SovietSecrets]

Never really played anything from them, but The Saboteur looks pretty cool. Sad to see a developer close though.

 

[Nova5]

What games did they actually make again?

Starwars Battlefront 1 and 2
Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2
Full Spectrum Warrior
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
There are more, which can be found here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_Studios#Completed_games/].

Huh... Battlefront 1 and 2 were awesome, Mercenaries 1 was awesome... And Destroy All Humans looked pretty sweet. Well, that's kind of a loss I guess. I mean, nothing ridiculous, but cool ideas with decent execution.

 

[Nova5]

Does this mean there is no hope for Battlefront 3?

If you want it to feel at all like the first two, yes. However, EA being the massive whores they are, I'm certain they'll find some necromatic dev team of equal whoredom to resurrect the corpse of the franchise (which is also a whore, as it is owned by Lucas). Then they can all stand on the street corner together. With other whores.

But seriously, not a chance in hell of the next one being good. Sucks, since number two was fucking awesome, if not a bit ugly (even for time of release).

 

[Teh_Doomage]

Well, the punches keep coming from EA...while they have saved lots of face lately compared to Activision...this doesn't help them though.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

What games did they actually make again?

I forget the name, but it's the one where you pull off a scam involving the biggest developer buyout ever followed by a post-recession close and the dust-up of surrendered assets. Rich scum-bags like this should get their asses kicked by the courts, turn that ~$5 million into pensions for the 200 laid-off.