Pandemic Studios: Remembering the Closed Battlefront Developer

#mercenaries #destroyallhumans #battlefront2 #pandemicstudios
Founded in 1998 by former Activision developers, Pandemic Studios started their run creating great Star Wars games such as Clone Wars, Battlefront 1 and Battlefront 2. They moved on to GTA-style open worlds such as Destroy All Humans, Mercenaries Playground of Destruction and The Saboteur. After being acquired by Electronic Arts alongside Bioware, they would develop Lord of the Rings Conquest and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames before being closed by EA.

0:00 Introduction
1:31 Dark Reign 2 and Battlezone II
2:50 Army Men RTS
4:13 Clone Wars
5:58 Full Spectrum Warrior
7:57 Star Wars: Battlefront
11:21 Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
14:49 Destroy All Humans
16:59 Battlefront II
19:30 VGHoldings, Bioware and Electronic Arts
21:49 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
26:00 Lord of the Rings Conquest
28:24 The End of Pandemic
31:03 The Saboteur
33:26 Legacy

Sources:
Pandemic Name Origin
https://web.archive.org/web/200706091...

IGN’s History of Pandemic
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/12/...

Battlezone Programmer Interview
https://web.archive.org/web/201203210...

Army Men RTS Preview
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/arm...

The Making of Full Spectrum Warrior
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qbnkw...

Gaming’s Role in the Military Entertainment Complex
https://www.theguardian.com/technolog...

Battlefront 1 Documents
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13...

Battlefront Dev Diary 1
https://web.archive.org/web/200502082...

Mercs 1 Interview
https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.co...

Rogue Leaders
https://archive.org/details/RogueLead...

The Origin of Destroy All Humans
https://www.inverse.com/article/17492...

Bioware and Pandemic Combine
https://web.archive.org/web/200604230...

Bioware joins with pandemic in late 2005
https://www.engadget.com/2005-11-03-b...

Bioware Merger Timeline
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bioware...

VG Holdings, Riccitello Departs
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-pl...

EA Buys VGHoldings, Bioware and Pandemic
https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/10/...

Mercs 2 Creative Director Interview
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/...

Mercs 2 and the Move to EA
https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/02/...

Mercs 2 is an 80s Action Movie
https://www.wired.com/2007/08/intervi...

Mercenaries 2 Eurogamer
https://www.eurogamer.net/mercenaries...

Conquest BTS
   • Lord of the Rings Conquest-Developmen...  

Lord of the Rings Conquest Interview
https://web.archive.org/web/201207271...

Rumor - Brisbane Office Closed
https://kotaku.com/rumor-ea-shuts-dow...

Pandemic Closed
https://kotaku.com/confirmed-ea-close...

Mercs Inc
https://news.ea.com/press-releases/pr...

Former Employee Speaks on Pandemic Closure, Saboteur “sent out to die”
https://web.archive.org/web/200911221...

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