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Despite laying off almost the entirety of the workforce at Pandemic Studios, EA is set to launch not only Pandemic Studios’ The Saboteur, but it is also going forward with Mercs Inc. As you can imagine, this marks yet another addition to the Mercenaries franchise. Apparently, the core Pandemic team that managed to avoid the chopping block will lead an internal team at EALA to create the next Mercenaries entry. Unfortunately, details are scant at this moment, as the following presser is more focused on The Saboteur than Mercs Inc. Shipping date and ESRB rating are still forthcoming.
Press Release: LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–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 installment 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.” The most imminent release from Pandemic Studios is the action sandbox game, The Saboteur which ships on December 8, 2009. The Saboteur stars Sean Devlin; a street-tough Irish race car driver trapped behind enemy lines in 1940s Nazi-occupied France. Motivated by revenge, Sean fights, climbs, and races through open-world Paris, sneaking into the heart of the Nazi operations and sabotaging their every move. The Saboteur will be available for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox360® video game and entertainment system, and the PC. The Saboteur has been rated M by the ESRB with the following as descriptors: blood, intense violence, nudity, sexual themes, strong language. More information about The Saboteur, can be found at http://www.thesaboteurgame.com. Platform(s) and ship date for Mercs Inc not announced. This game is not yet rated by the ESRB. |
