Pandemic Studios

Pandemic Studios was an independent developer founded in 1998. Between 2007 and 2009 it became an Electronic Arts-owned developer, and shortly afterwards closed. It was an American and Australian video game developer with offices in Los Angeles, California and Brisbane, Australia. Notable titles include Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront, Dark Reign 2, Destroy All Humans!, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Star Wars: Battlefront II and The Saboteur.

History
The company's president was Josh Resnick and its CEO was Andrew Goldman &mdash; both formerly worked at Activision, and Pandemic was founded with an equity investment by Activision in 1998. Pandemic's first two games, Battlezone II and Dark Reign 2, were both sequels to Activision games.

In 2000, Pandemic opened a development studio in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley. The first project was Army Men: RTS, a console RTS game using the Dark Reign 2 engine. The studio later developed Destroy All Humans!. In 2003, the Los Angeles studio moved from its founding location at Santa Monica to a high-rise building in Westwood.

In November 2005, it was announced that Pandemic and BioWare would be joining forces, with private equity fund Elevation Partners investing in the partnership. Both companies retained their brands and identities. On October 11, 2007, it was announced that VG Holding Corp., the owners of BioWare and Pandemic Studios, would be acquired by Electronic Arts as of January 2008, subject to FTC approval.

In February 2009, their office in Brisbane, Australia was shut down. In November 2009, Electronic Arts cut a total of 1,500 jobs which affected various studios, including shutting down of Pandemic. On November 17, 2009, EA officially confirmed Pandemic Studios' closure, laying off 228 employees. EA absorbed 35 Pandemic employees into its EA Los Angeles studio to support The Saboteur and an unannounced project which was later revealed to be Mercs Inc, a sequel to the Mercenaries series. In response, a few former employees of Pandemic created an Office Space-style video where they are shown smashing their office printer.

Over a dozen former Pandemic developers are now employed at 343 Industries having worked on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 4. Other former employees have gone to work for Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Respawn Entertainment, Blendo Games and many others.