14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has announced that Pandemic, the videogame creation studio which has been recently downsized, is set to develop and release a new title in the Mercenaries series, which is at the moment in the initial stages of production. The working title is Mercs Inc. and it will probably arrive later in 2010 or early in 2011.
A statement from Nick Earl, who is a senior vice president at Electronic Arts, reads “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. From the studio at EALA, a core creative team is forging new ground and conceptualizing new ideas for this exciting franchise”. No clear details are known about the game at the moment, but it might be something different from the free world destruction of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
The franchise was launched back in 2005 and it has seen good enough sales to keep Pandemic going until now and see it brought under the supervision of Electronic Arts. The publisher has announced losses of about 391 million dollars in the last fiscal quarter and as a result it will be forced to cut about 1,500 jobs in order to return to profitability at some point during next year. Pandemic is among those studios which have been hardest hit by the layoffs. The remaining members of Pandemic have been integrated into the Electronic Arts Los Angeles team, which will be working on the newly announced Mercs Inc.
With its newfound focus on social gaming and intellectual property which can generate revenue over a long period of time, it might just be that Mercs Inc. will actually be an MMO like experience, that each player taking the role of one mercenary as he picks up jobs and fits others in the game world.