After a string of disappointing releases Electronic Arts has decided to let go Pandemic Studio's Australian arm, responsible for Destroy All Humans! and more, reports claim.
According to Kotaku, instead of being sacked the studio's Brisbane staffers have been essentially "set free", retaining all original IP, staff and even office equipment.
"It was more of a 'Find a new publisher. Good luck.' kind of thing," a studio source told the site. We suppose closing a recently acquired studio, as the old EA might've, probably wouldn't do wonders for the 'new EA' image.
No mention has been made of the other, Los Angeles-based studio, responsible for Mercenaries and Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
The Aussie division was most recently said to be working on an open world Batman game based on The Dark Knight, now said to be cancelled. If true, and industry chatter suggests it is, it probably didn't do well for Pandemic Brisbane's CV.
It's now said to be working on a 'open world reality show' (read: party game) for Wii, which should make some cash.
Not making a game to tie in with the release of Casino Royale, was the reason EA lost the rights to make Bond games. Then they did the same thing with the Dark Knight. That cost the film companies millions. EA have their fingers in too many pies & need to be more focused on fewer projects.
Pandemic have released a large majority of my fav games. Star Wars Battlefront, Destroy all Humans! and Mercenaries just name a few. I think they'll get a new publisher very quickly, and though I don't like the idea of releasing a reality game for the Wii, it'll definitely generate some wonga.
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