It is with a heavy heart that I write about the confirmed information that Pandemic Studios is closing down. The studio was bought by Electronic Arts and has been responsible most recently for Mercs2 and Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Their next title, Saboteur is due out next month. Whether or not that will still happen is unclear.

Pandemic Studios has about 200 employees, some of which I know personally. I have always had an amazing time when I visited. Pandemic Studios felt like family. All the employees were close and passionate about what they are working on. They had their rock star in Tom French, but the team was made up of rock stars.

I hope you all find jobs soon. Please keep in touch with GamingAngels and let us know where you all end up. I saw on Twitter that Epic Games,Insomniac Games, LucasArts, and Microsoft are all hiring.

From us at GamingAngels.com we wish you luck. Thank you for everything you’ve done with GA.

UPDATE: Here are some quotes from an internal memo that Kotaku has:

“I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on,” Nick Earl, EA Games Label Senior Vice President, wrote in the memo. “In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises.

“This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That’s how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios.”

Earl said that the move was made to “improve our cost structure, ensure quality and build schedule integrity for this studio.”