Pandemic Studios: Remembering the Closed Battlefront Developer
356#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/20070609133126/http://www.gamespy.com/articles/697/697083p6.hjtml
IGN’s History of Pandemic
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/12/07/ign-presents-the-history-of-pandemic
Battlezone Programmer Interview
https://web.archive.org/web/20120321020736/http://www.jtworld.net/bzmag/bzissue1.pdf
Army Men RTS Preview
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/army-men-rts/1100-2835998/
The Making of Full Spectrum Warrior
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qbnkwq/in-the-army-now-the-making-of-full-spectrum-warrior-140
Gaming’s Role in the Military Entertainment Complex
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/22/call-of-duty-gaming-role-military-entertainment-complex
Battlefront 1 Documents
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1321hePwVlRm_PopkEqRXoHt4g99wp_1PJrtkPgoFiXg/edit
Battlefront Dev Diary 1
https://web.archive.org/web/20050208231323/http://archive.gamespy.com/devdiary/february04/swbattlefront1/
Mercs 1 Interview
https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/inside-mercenaries-playground-of-destruction-with-ronald-pieket/
Rogue Leaders
https://archive.org/details/RogueLeadersTheHistoryOfLucasArts/page/n103/mode/2up
The Origin of Destroy All Humans
https://www.inverse.com/article/17492-destroy-all-humans-slayed-xenophobes-pre-trump
Bioware and Pandemic Combine
https://web.archive.org/web/20060423034931/https://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060329/sheffield_01.shtml
Bioware joins with pandemic in late 2005
https://www.engadget.com/2005-11-03-bioware-and-pandemic-bought-combined.html?guccounter=1
Bioware Merger Timeline
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bioware-and-pandemic-to-merge-creating-new-super-studio
VG Holdings, Riccitello Departs
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/greg-richardson-promoted-to-vg-holding-ceo
EA Buys VGHoldings, Bioware and Pandemic
https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/10/11/ea-buys-bioware-pandemic
Mercs 2 Creative Director Interview
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/digital-bruckheimer-cameron-brown-on-mercenaries-2
Mercs 2 and the Move to EA
https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/02/22/the-mercenaries-2-interview
Mercs 2 is an 80s Action Movie
https://www.wired.com/2007/08/interview-pande/
Mercenaries 2 Eurogamer
https://www.eurogamer.net/mercenaries-2-world-in-flames-interview
Conquest BTS
• Lord of the Rings Conquest-Developmen...
Lord of the Rings Conquest Interview
https://web.archive.org/web/20120727160935/http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/925/925509p1.html
Rumor - Brisbane Office Closed
https://kotaku.com/rumor-ea-shuts-down-pandemic-studios-down-under-5130836
Pandemic Closed
https://kotaku.com/confirmed-ea-closes-pandemic-studios-says-brand-will-5406830
Mercs Inc
https://news.ea.com/press-releases/press-releases-details/2009/Pandemic-Studios-Announces-Mercs-Inc/default.aspx
Former Employee Speaks on Pandemic Closure, Saboteur “sent out to die”
https://web.archive.org/web/20091122151834/https://www.destructoid.com/saboteur-sent-out-to-die-pandemic-closure-was-right--155508.phtml
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