Mercs, Inc. Announced From Pandemic / EALA

[modeps]

No, this isn't Bizzaro World. Yes, Pandemic is still kaput... but that doesn't mean that Electronic Arts stopped owning the Mercenaries IP. Dubbed with the current working title of "Mercs, Inc." this game is being worked on by EALA, yet this announcement was made by Pandemic.

Pandemic™ Studios, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that an all-new game in the studio’s popular Mercenaries™ franchise is in early stages of development at EALA. ‘Mercs Inc’ (working title) is the latest entry in the action series first made popular by Mercenaries in 2005 and most recently by Mercenaries 2: World in Flames™. Mercs Inc will be the first Pandemic game to be developed by the studio at its new home in Playa Vista. Mercs Inc will also be the first Pandemic game released after the launch this December 8th of the award-winning World War II action-sandbox game, The Saboteur™.

“We are very excited to announce a new instalment in the popular Mercenaries series because it demonstrates our continued commitment to Pandemic’s rich catalogue of intellectual properties,” said Nick Earl, Senior VP and Group General Manager at EA. “From the studio at EALA, a core creative team is forging new ground and conceptualizing new ideas for this exciting franchise.”

[Lodin]

This is pretty much necrophilia. Keep humping that corpse, EA.

[Phoenix1985]

This is pretty much necrophilia. Keep humping that corpse, EA.

UNF UNF UNF

If it's Incorporated, do you actually get to choose merc jobs instead of being offered targets?

[StGeorge]

Never sell your soul to souless corporate entities like EA... if Pandemic just held on to their IP's, then they could negotiate hardball with EA or just remain independent, why these studios give everything away to corporations like EA, I'll never know. Now they see what happens in the end, all your IP is prostituted out to third-rate developers and you are out of a job.

[Mantooth]

Never sell your soul to souless corporate entities like EA... if Pandemic just held on to their IP's, then they could negotiate hardball with EA or just remain independent, why these studios give everything away to corporations like EA, I'll never know. Now they see what happens in the end, all your IP is prostituted out to third-rate developers and you are out of a job.

I think it probably had something to do with money hats for the people that owned the studio.

[modeps]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again... In order for a developer to be successful, you have to put out some good games. While I feel for Pandemic and highly enjoyed the original Mercenaries as well as FSW, they haven't put out anything worthwhile in some time. So, mock EA all you'd like, but the closure of the studio is a sound business decision. They're not exactly the powerhouse they used to be and they need to consolidate. Also, despite being cool looking, it is clear that faith is fairly low in The Saboteur due to the release date.

[Dag-Sabot]

The second mercenaries was pretty bad.