Despite the shuttering of its current Los Angeles-based office and a significant reduction in its workforce, Mercenaries and The Saboteur series developer Pandemic will live on through a "core team," studio owner Electronic Arts tells Shacknews.

"Pandemic Studios and its franchises will be relocated to the EALA facility in nearby Playa Vista," explained the company. "This move has resulted in a reduction in the work force at Pandemic...That said, the Pandemic brand and franchises will continue to live on. A core team of Pandemic developers will move to EALA and continue development on Pandemic games with a focus on quality, cost management and schedule integrity."

The consolidation is part of Electronic Arts' recently revealed cost reduction plan, which aims to save the company roughly $100 million through "the closure of several facilities and a headcount reduction of approximately 1,500 positions." EA acquired Pandemic alongside Mass Effect developer BioWare for $860 million back in 2007.

The fate of Pandemic's two unannounced projects remains unclear, with the studio's long-coming World War II stealth-action game The Saboteur due on December 8.

Update 2: Studio owner Electronic Arts has chimed in, explaining that "a core team of Pandemic developers will move to EALA" and continue the Pandemic brand.

Update: "It's official, pandemic is shut down as of today," reads a tweet from Pandemic's Drew Marlowe. "Thankfully it looks like we are getting decent severance."

More details, including an official statement, are expected shortly.

Original: Rumours are circulating that Pandemic Studios--the Los Angeles-based developer of the Mercenaries series and The Saboteur--is to be closed as part of EA's $100 million cost-cutting plan, first reported by Kotaku.

The majority of the studio's two hundred-odd staff will reportedly be informed today that the development and publishing giant intends to lay them off.

Further rumours suggest that one Pandemic team may survive the layoffs and join the EA Los Angeles campus--itself rumoured to be facing cuts in the form of the Command & Conquer 4 team. Pandemic's website lists two mystery "current projects."

Pandemic's open-world shooter sequel Mercenaries 2 suffered a lengthy development with several delays, though as of October 2008 it had sold 1.9 million copies and then-EA publishing COO John Pleasants declared "there will be a Mercenaries 3, and if I can have anything to do with it, there will be a Mercenaries 10... Read more

Pandemic today released the free "Blow It Up Again" DLC pack for the Xbox 360 version of Mercenaries 2. The content pack--which primarily includes four new missions--is highlighted in the below trailer.

The DLC hit the PlayStation Network last Thursday.

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Following up on the late August release of Mercenaries 2 (PC, PS2, PS3, 360), EA publishing COO John Pleasants has stated that "there will be a Mercenaries 3, and if I can have anything to do with it, there will be a Mercenaries 10."

The Pandemic-developed open-world action game sequel has sold 1.9 million copies since it hit retailers, the company revealed during a conference call yesterday.

With EA riding a wave of planned sequels--Dead Space 2, Army of Two 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 along with Mirror's Edge 2 and 3--Pleasants noted that future Dead Space and Mirror's Edge games "are not likely to be annual sequels."

He also promised a strong future for the Spore franchise, vowing that both expansion packs and new business models are coming for the Maxis-helmed evolution series.

Not to be outdone by another open-world action game making an election-season publicity grab, presidential and vice-presidential candidates Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are to become playable characters in Pandemic's Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, 360, PS3, PS2).

G4 got the exclusive story from Pandemic's Tom Stratton, who offered up this explanation:

Mercenaries 2 is a game seemingly ripped straight out of today's headlines and fueled with the same type of over-the-top action found in the best summer blockbuster films. It only makes sense we inject the game with a spin on current affairs. The timing was too good to let pass.

The playable politicos are expected to be included in the explosive-laden game's first paid downloadable content pack, which is due in November.

With Pandemic's dangerously flammable open-world game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames set to receive a patch soon for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, publisher Electronic Arts has sent along a trailer commemorating the occasion.

Entitled "Total Payback," the update adds an undisclosed amount of explosions as well as cheat codes and six new playable characters. It drops on October 13 on Xbox 360 and October 23 on PlayStation 3. Paid DLC will follow in November.

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Pandemic's explosive-filled open-world military action game, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, is set to receive a free update in mid-October for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, followed by paid downloadable content in November.

The October update, dubbed "Total Payback," will add cheat codes to the game. "Unlock the total-payback power of all weapons, vehicles and airstrikes in Mercenaries 2, as well as everyone's favorite: Infinite Ammo and Infinite Health," exclaims the press release.

In addition, six new playable characters will be added while removing region restrictions from co-operative play. The update will hit Xbox Live on October 13 and the PlayStation Network on October 20. The PC version of the game is already being patched, but the PlayStation 2 version of the game will have to go without updates.

Other than a November release window, no details were provided on the paid downloadable content.

The PC demo of Pandemic's Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has finally arrived to complement the Xbox 360 and PS3 demos that came out last week.

Offering many, many explosions and a sliver of the game's open world, the demo weighs 1.6 GB and can be downloaded now from FileShack.

The first Mercenaries 2: World in Flames patch has been issued, updating the PC version of Pandemic's recently released action game sequel to version 1.1.

The 12mb download offers the following fixes

• When the user sets the shader level to low in the options menu, the user can set the shaders back to high again.
• The user can now cancel a contract by using a controller.
• The user can set the volume levels to high and low using the mouse properly now.... Read more

The Mercenaries 2 demo, which publisher EA claimed was available last Friday, arrived today for North American Xbox 360 users via the console's online Xbox Live Marketplace.

Currently only available to Gold-level Xbox Live subscribers, the free 1.2 GB download offers up a small portion of Pandemic's explosion-filled action game, which launched on PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in late August.

The PlayStation 3 version of the demo is slated to arrive on Thursday.

Pandemic's open-world military action game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will get a playable demo for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, according to an announcement from publisher Electronic Arts.

The demo comes to Xbox Live today and will arrive on the PlayStation Network next Thursday, September 18.

In the demo, players can work through one objective from one of the game's missions and explore a small portion of the game's open world. They can also take several vehicles for a spin and even try out airstrikes.

Should you lose patience whilst waiting for the demo and spring for the full game, it's now on shelves for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

With Pandemic's explosion-filled open-world shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames due on PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 next week, publisher EA issued a launch trailer that it affectionately refers to as "Money."

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In case you just can't wait until the Sunday release of Pandemic's action game sequel, a new Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS2, PS3, X360) trailer is now available.

The video shows about fifty seconds of airstrike destruction.

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Electronic Arts today released a cache of media from the PC version of Pandemic's open-world military shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

The game is set to hit stores on August 31 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2; the PC version will follow on September 4.

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Click on through for the PC system requirements:... Read more

Publisher EA has supplied a new trailer for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS2, PS3, 360), Pandemic's explosion-fueled action game due out August 31.

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From publisher Electronic Arts comes another trailer for Pandemic's open world action shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Mercenaries 2 is due for release on August 31 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

Publisher EA has passed in a new trailer from Pandemic's open world action sequel Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, offering three different approaches to one of its missions.

In development for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Mercenaries 2 is slated to hit retail shelves August 31. Shackvideo users can use the HD Stream.

A new batch of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames screenshots is now available. Among other things, the new grabs from Pandemic's open world action game sequel show explosions, helicopter stunts and grand theft tank. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will be released this August for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Publisher Electronic Arts has released a new trailer for Pandemic's open-world destruct-a-thon Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS2, PS2, X360), confirming the August 31 release date and offering a glimpse at the events that lead up to the sequel.

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Pandemic Studios' open-world shooter Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC, PS2, PS3, X360) is now slated for an August 31 release, IGN reports. The development of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames has been mired in delays, with the game originally scheduled for a holiday 2007 release window and later bumped to "early 2008". Earlier this year, publisher Electronic Arts announced that the game would be further delayed to its 2009 fiscal year.