Goodbye Pandemic LA

I was working at Pandemic Brisbane for about 3 months before we merged with BioWare and Elevation Partners invested 300 million into the company. Two years later Pandemic and BioWare were sold to Electronic Arts for about 800 million. About 18 months later the Brisbane studio was shut down. Today the LA studio has also been shut down. Read about it here.

It's interesting to note that John Riccitello left EA in 2004 to form Elevation to buy Pando/BioWare to then go back to EA in 2007 and buy Pando/BioWare from Elevation. According to this article he made 4.9 million from the deal (the second time)

And the image up the top? Well the high point on the left is when Pandemic was bought at $60 a share. And it's been an impressive ski slope ever since.

It's over, and now we're free.

Pandemic Brisbane closed it's doors yesterday.

I joined at the start of DAH2 and in the four years I was there I experienced the best working environment that I've ever known. If there are better teams and better people out there then I pray I find them one day.

At the end of DAH2 when THQ took the license back, The Bravo Team picked their name first so we became known as the Alpha Team. We moved upstairs, Bravo started up their game and we just kept working. That first 9 months of pitching and experimenting and trying to nail the game idea was amazing. It changed the way I work, the way I look at the job. The respect we had for one another was impressive. That doesn't just happen. It's built, day by day.

I equate it to a band that just kept playing, every month we got better. You'd know how every person would play. You'd know how everyone could shine. We got tight and the product was amazing. One day people will see it. And it'll be seen for what it is. The best game we'll all never finish.

Your faithful tech.

MattD