Pandemic Studios

Pandemic Studios was an American game development studio founded in 1998 in Brisbane, California. The studio was founded by Josh Resnick and Andrew Goldman and, during its existence, became one of the most highly regarded developers of open-world action games. In 2007, it became part of Electronic Arts, which closed the studio in 2009.

Pandemic Studios achieved its greatest fame thanks to the legendary shooters Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Battlefront II. These games offered large-scale battles set in the Star Wars universe, the chance to fight for the Galactic Republic, the Separatists, the Empire or the Rebels, and to pilot iconic vehicles including AT-ATs, X-Wings and TIE Fighters. To this day, they remain among the most popular games set in the Star Wars universe.

The studio also created the successful Mercenaries series, in which players undertook dangerous mercenary missions in a vast open world full of destruction, vehicles and freedom. The crazy alien action game Destroy All Humans! was also hugely popular, in which players took on the role of Crypto, an alien destroying humanity using futuristic weapons and a flying saucer.

The studio’s last major project was the action game The Saboteur, set during the Second World War in Nazi-occupied Paris. The game stood out for its original black-and-white visual style, open world and the opportunity to sabotage the German occupying forces.

Other well-known titles from the studio include Full Spectrum Warrior, Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Army Men RTS and Dark Reign 2. Pandemic Studios was renowned for its emphasis on player freedom, large open maps, environmental destruction and cinematic action missions.

Thanks to games such as Star Wars Battlefront, Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans! and The Saboteur, Pandemic Studios ranks among the most significant American game studios of its era. Although the studio has since closed, its games remain classics of the action genre to this day.