Factor 5, Inc.
Closed: May 14th, 2009
Most recent game: Lair
Best known for: The Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series
Factor 5 GMbH, based in Cologne, Germany is still alive, but the division in San Rafael, California closed after the bankruptcy of publisher Brash Entertainment was too much to bear. The long-standin🌌g studio is best known for the Rogue Squadron series, as well as the super-hyped but ultimately failed Lair. Before being canned, the team was working on several unnamed projects, and a now-cancelled Superman game.
Above: What might have been
Pandemic
Effectively closed: November 2009
Most recent game: The Saboteur
Best known for: Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries series
Pandemic isn’t gone, but it’s closed in the physical sense. Due to “restructuring” by EA, the studio was consolidated into the EA Los Angeles studio, thou🦂gh the Pandemic name will live on. The restructuring wasn’t a simple move, however, as only a “core IP team” survived the cuts. According to , founders Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman, and Greg Borrud are no longer with the company, and about 200 employees in total were let go.
Above: Will the Battlefront series ever be back in all its glory?
According to EA, the cuts are part of an effort to “accelerate our transformation to a direct-to-consumer digital model, and to better manage our cost structure.” To simplify that seemingly-random string of words, EA suffered losses this year and needed to 🌺scale down. As a result, Pandemic should now always be referred to as “Pandemic,” with quotes to signify that they’re really just EA Los Angeles and a logo.
Pandemic was most recently developing The Saboteur, which will be released imminently. The buzz around the game has died down in the past year, but based on what we’ve seen, it’s solid, and a fitting🐻 way to end the studio’♒s successful run as an independent developer.
Where they are now: Pandemic, or what’s left of it, is now working on a new Mercenaries game, tent𝔉atively titled Mercs Inc.. EALA also recently announced a reboot of the Medal of Honor series.
And one other disaster… Midway
On February 12, 2009, Midway filed for bankruptcy, and beginning in May, the eꦆ💃ntirety of the legendary NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat creator was ripped apart and sold off. Warner Bros., which Midway had worked with on MK vs. DC, grabbed most of the company and its properties, including the Chicago studio and the rights to Mortal Kombat, for $33,000,000. In August, THQ snagged the San Diego studio for $740,000. The little that was left was closed or picked up by SouthPeak studios, and Midway is no more.
Dec 4, 2009
These games diౠdn't just flop, they brought down entire companies
Hasn't anyone noticed yet? No? Then let's make fu🐻n of them
