Rumours of a complete closure of Los Angeles based Pandemic Studios (Mercenaries, Star Wars: Battlefront) turned out to be mostly true as Gamasutra reports on the contents of a leaked memo, EA will close down the Pandemic Studios facilities in Westwood, while founders Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick and Greg Borrud will leave the company along with 200 others. The remaining staff and the IP's Pandemic Studios hold will be transferred to EA Los Angeles, a studio that has also seen cuts recently and that is working on the next Medal of Honor at the moment.
Pandemic Studios had just wrapped up work on the World War II stealth action title The Saboteur (due out in December), but no other projects had been officially announced.
Back in the summer of 2008 GRTV visited Pandemic Studios and had a long talk with founder Josh Resnick about the ten years Pandemic had been around. At the time he was very positive about their future and relationship with new owners EA. Check out these interviews for further insights...
Ten years of Pandemic - Interview (part 1)
Ten years of Pandemic - Interview (part 2)
Pandemic Studios was bought up by EA in October of 2007 along with Bioware for the massive amount of $800 million. It's hard to imagine EA being pleased with that investment at this point.