The folks over at Kotaku are reporting that Pandemic Studios will be shut down as of today at 11AM Pacific Standard Time.

This is not the first that we have heard about this, as the recent EA layoffs had the rumor that Pandemic Studios and other divisions would either be shutdown or reduced in staff.  However, it was surprising at the timing of this closure, as Pandemic was readying their newest title, The Saboteur.  Why you would shut down a developer less than 20 days away from the release of their new title, seems questionable at best.

More importantly, what does this tell the community about The Saboteur.  Will Electronic Arts look to support this title beyond its release?  I would look at it as a vote of no confidence in the title from EA, and that those that buy it will never see much beyond its release to retail.  That is the thing that really upsets me, as Pandemic was trying to do something different with the World War II era, by having you as a covert operative, and with the coloring of the city, all of it was looking amazing.  Now we as gamers, are faced with a title that looks to never expand beyond its current state of development.

Just my two cents at EA, but for a company that sat their and said that they wanted to support creativity and emerging IPs, you certainly are not following through on the promise.  We have probably seen the death of Mirror’s Edge 2 with this latest round of updates, and now The Saboteur is gone as well.  Dead Space 2 may also be on the cutting block as well.  Where is that innovation and creativity now.  It sure as hell is not in EA Sports or The Sims, so where will it come from?  Bioware is about the only EA company that is still creating new and innovative titles, and all of them are making bucketloads of cash.  Maybe John Riccitiello should go up to visit to two Doctors at Bioware and find out how to be successful with new brands.

EA Montreal will be performing mop up duties on The Saboteur.  EA Montreal is the developer for Army of Two: The 40th Day.  Pandemic Studios, we wish all of your hard working developers the best in your unfortuate situations, and hope that all of you find work at other developers that might give you the chance to show off that creativity that you gave us gamers over 10 years.