10 Beloved Video Game Studios That Didn't Deserve To Be Shut Down

8. Pandemic Studios

Mercenaries 2
EA

For a while, Pandemic created some of the most bombastic action games around. With the first two Battlefront games establishing them as a force to be reckoned with, the developers took the large-scale action of that series and implemented it into a bunch of new original titles.

Consequently, after following up their two Star Wars games with the cult-classic Destroy All Humans and the underrated Mercenaries in 2005, the studio was thriving.

Unfortunately, after releasing sequels to both of those games, the team was bought by EA in 2007. Put onto new original games as well as liscenced properties, the team quickly churned out Lord of the Rings: Conquest and the imaginative The Saboteur.

With none of these titles proving to be a huge success for EA though, the publisher reconsidered their recent purchase and closed the studio shortly after. Lasting only two years and never really given a chance to spread their wings, the company was declared dead in the water in 2009, partway through the development of the team's upcoming Dark Knight tie-in.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.