DAMMIT! And I was so excited for Battlefront to be put on the DS...wait, maybe that one isn't by Pandemic...
Anyways, I loved battlefront and Mercs, but really...We should all make a pot and place in our bets on when EA will finally go under. =)

That was Origin's slogan.
The EA purchase wasn't all bad. They made some fine games under EA ( Serpent Isle, Privateer, Crusader series, System Shock).
I just wish Pagan and Ascension turned out better. :(

This really isn't surprising. The first Mercenaries was fun, the sequel was awful. Full Spectrum Warrior wasn't bad...Ten Hammers was awful. They seemed incapable of producing a decent followup. And the Destroy All Humans and Battlefront games never really quite met their potential, at least not for me.

Except that in many cases, it's a case of "choosing not to quit your job when the company you work for is bought by EA". That's not quite the same thing.

or "choosing not to quit your job when the idiot businessman who owns the company you work for sells it to EA because it will make him an extra 20 million this year and who gives a shit about business compatibility anyway since you're selling them and won't have to deal with it whilst you're doing lines of blow and getting handjobs from taiwanese ladyboy hookers".
Am I too cynical?

There is a difference between the EA of the past and the EA now. The EA in the past were only interested in IP's not even in the games themselves so they bought studios and then closed them with probably no intention of ever making sequels at the time. Pandemic have very much been living on borrowed time and their output has been poor. EA have been picking up their tab's and finally said no more. It's always sad when someone loses their job but its been happening all over the world and the games industry is no exception. The truly talented will either stay with EA or move on to another studio.
As for people blaming EA for the past lets just remind ourselves that Garriot had enough money to go into space. Molyneux didn't do to bad for himself either.

no, it's not true.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61284

Bashing EA? Oh dear, it isn't even funny anymore...

Meh, so it's being absorbed into the massive EA collective. That's not too bad. I still want Battlefront 3 and The Saboteur.

It was pretty bad for the guy I know who worked there. Some of the folks had been there since '98.

It sucks, I really feel sorry for the people at Pandemic Studios. They actually work(ed) =\ a few miles from where I lived. Although their recent games weren't as good as their older ones, they were still quite a bit of fun, and it always is sad to see a gaming studio go under.

they were consolidated not closed http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61284

When you fire 200 of your employees and move the remaining few to another location, it doesn't matter if you say the studio is still open, it's effectively closed.