BZ2 developer/creator Pandemic Studios to be closed?
I got to thinking earlier this morning, " I wonder what Pandi studios is up to these days." I dropped by their site, and the only current project was the Saboteur. Sounded like a blah plat-former, and I got to thinking you don't here much about these guys anymore.
Then in random internet skimming I stumbled on the following.
http://kotaku.com/5406449/rumor-rip-pandemic-studios-1998+2009
Wow.
Of course it could be BS like a lot of things on the web.
Coxxon? :O
I don't think pandi will be closing... at least, I hope not. I know they got bought out by EA and their Brisbane team earlier (losing three games in the process) and have cancelled another two projects, but I bloody hope they're not closing... :/
Maybe Ultraken or GSH can tell us.
Whoooa! *pokes a caxxon*
Somebody please tell me it's BS.
Oh f**k...
Doesn't that mean that GSH would lose his job??
If they were to close... yes.
The article I read this afternoon says they are laying off 200 Pandemic employees and moving the rest to LA. The rest didn't sound like very many. That said, they have several developers that work remotely and they weren't mentioned at all.
And, the guys that put Pandemic together are on the outs, which is standard fair after the dust settles. You can't ever let the main management go during a takeover or your stock tumbles so they always wait six plus months before cleaning upper management if practical.
I'd love to see these guys start up a new studio and have a go at it again.
Centerline...
Ah, GSH is already in LA. He should be safe.
Confirmed:
"An internal Electronic Arts memo confirms that Pandemic Studios was shut down today with a "core IP team" being moved to Electronic Arts' Los Angeles office. Among those let go were the studio's top three employees: Andrew Goldman, formerly the studio's CEO; Josh Resnick, formerly the studios president; and Greg Borrud, vice president of product development
"I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on," Nick Earl, EA Games Label Senior Vice President, wrote in the memo. "In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises.
"This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That's how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios."
More:
http://kotaku.com/5406830/confirmed-ea-closes-pandemic-studios-says-brand-will-live-on
Oh, no...
I'm friends with a lot of Pandemic people on Facebook, and Pandemic's closure is unfortunately all too true. :-(
Ken already did not work with Pandemic anymore.
GSH warned in IRC this may be happening.
It looks like the news of Pandemic's closure seems to be official: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26120/EA_Memo_Confirms_Pandemic_Consolidation_Van_Caneghem_Hire.php (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26120/EA_Memo_Confirms_Pandemic_Consolidation_Van_Caneghem_Hire.php) and http://kotaku.com/5406830/confirmed-ea-closes-pandemic-studios-says-brand-will-live-on (http://kotaku.com/5406830/confirmed-ea-closes-pandemic-studios-says-brand-will-live-on) . I'm just pinging people I know from Pandemic to see what their side of the story is.
Comments above are right in that Ken was cut from Pandemic October 30th 2008, and has been in Austin since this January, working at Armature Studios. I've been working on getting The Saboteur finished up. I've kept things quiet for now, but I feel that it's a good time as any to announce this: I'm not at Pandemic anymore. But, by choice. (Trust me, I wanted to get some severance.) I've accepted a job in Austin, starting in early December, and am in the process of moving my family and everything here. I've had that job offer in hand for weeks, and gave notice at Pandemic a week ago (Mov Nov 9th). Friday Nov 13th was my last day. I'm not going to say what company I'll be working for quite yet; I want to see what their policy on side projects (read: BZ2) is. I'll just say that it's listed on http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Austin (http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Austin) .
I know it'll be easy to blame EA for this closure. I'm going to say that some of the blame probably lies on both sides.
-- GSH
Sadly, the end of an era...but, it brings with it the anticipation a new one.
Good luck to you GSH.
Whoa, I decide to check the forums today to see what's new in the BZ2 world and I find this.
That's sad. :-(
The best of luck to you! You've got our support.
I've heard of a lot of companies come and go, all make games that I liked, but I took a really bad blow when I heard that Pandemic was going to be shut down.
I was totally shocked and I'm still trying to recover. :(
@GSH,
Which company are you working for now?
Sorry to hear about this too, what a surprise, end of an era indeed. Just like a lot of us here who work/worked at corporate, I know how it also feels to be "let go" (after dodging the layoff cycles for almost a decade, heh). Good luck to Nathan (and Ken) in all their post-Pandemic employment endeavors.
@Ken: What is your Facebook profile? I can add you there, I'm already a friend with Pandemic. Been at Facebook since 2004, when registration was still only limited to some companies and [college] students before opening up to the rest of the public a couple years ago.
Quote
@GSH,
Which company are you working for now?
As above, I don't start my new job until early December. So, I'm technically unemployed at the moment.
-- GSH
Wish you much support getting the new career! I don't think you mentioned this on the IRC, either.
Does this mean support for BattlezoneII ends? :? :-o
Quote from: Wraith on November 18, 2009, 07:26:28 PM
Does this mean support for BattlezoneII ends? :? :-o
We are the support. It officially ended a long time ago.
O ok good. Could use some advice on beating the mission where you have to retrieve the scion commander near the crashed dropship which im stuck on and base gets killed.
There hasn't been support for quite awhile now. Come to think of it, I think when you install the 1.2 patch it used to void any support as it was an unofficial patch never made official or something like that.
Quote from: Wraith on November 18, 2009, 07:42:18 PM
O ok good. Could use some advice on beating the mission where you have to retrieve the scion commander near the crashed dropship which im stuck on and base gets killed.
If you mean "Fanning the Fire" mission, there have been a few threads on it here on different ways to beat it. Try this one: http://www.bzuniverse.com/forum/index.php?&topic=9776.0
Yeah, Pandemic "official" support for BZII died about 7-8 years ago. :)
I just hope EA doesn't make try to make a Battlezone 3. They're (in general) strongly against modding/unofficial patches, meaning it won't be able to have our support to keep the life in it like with BZ2.
Not to mention they could bundle malware with it in the form of the broken idea of "digital rights management". I could go on for a whole 2000+ words about that but this isn't the place.
News has made slashdot: http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/20/0440236/EA-Shuts-Down-Pandemic-Studios-Cuts-200-Jobs (http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/20/0440236/EA-Shuts-Down-Pandemic-Studios-Cuts-200-Jobs) .
As usual, some BZ2 love and hate in that thread.
-- GSH
Our thoughts and prayers are with every one of you. Things, will work out just fine I'm sure. A moment of silence please....
Quote from: GSH on November 17, 2009, 09:28:36 PM
I'm not going to say what company I'll be working for quite yet; I want to see what their policy on side projects (read: BZ2) is. I'll just say that it's listed on http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Austin (http://www.gamedevmap.com/index.php?tool=location&query=Austin) .
-- GSH
Blizzard Austin! Coming soon, "World of Battlezone", the MMRPFPSRTSG to end all MMRPFPSRTSG's!!! (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing First Person Shooting Real Time Strategy Game) :-D
Humour aside when a game company closes it's always blamed on mismanagement... I mean, it's not usually the coders and artists that determine the course of a game, it's the Project Designers and Managers, right? It's all happened before and will probably happen again...
The whole world is cutting back, closing down, pruning the branches. It's been a long time coming and it's mostly due to the continuing evolution of the Industrial Revolution. Mankind needs to come up with new ways for people to earn livings if they're going to continue to depend so much on robots, and push productivity over all else. What happens on that final day when one person working can produce everything humanity needs? Old George will push the button and it'll all roll out assembly lines, but nobody will be able to buy it because only George has a job. (working for Spacely Sprockets, if you don't get who George is by now...)
On a personal note it sounds like both Ken and Nathan have hit the ground running... I hope everyone here expresses hope for their future, and thanks for the work they've done. Even if GSH's new job (or any other reason) shuts him down from working on BZ2 any further he's already given us an amazing gift in 1.3 just the way it is now.
-Av-
Randomly today I ran into another mention of Pandy's death:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bvk0gespgI&annotation_id=annotation_730703&feature=iv#t=1m44s
The playfish acquisition mentioned in the gaming news clip is real. EA bought playfish for $300M. When I read what playfish does, I thought "What the ...!?!" Is that the future of gaming? If it is, just shoot me now.
http://www.playfish.com/press_releases/?release=09_11_2009
Eddy
A month ago, Pandemic IT replaced a really broken printer on the 16th floor. Looks like some (ex-)coworkers found that dead printer and had fun with it:
http://kotaku.com/5410999/pandemic-studios-says-goodbye-geek-gangsta-style (http://kotaku.com/5410999/pandemic-studios-says-goodbye-geek-gangsta-style)
Good riddance to the printer. Sorry I can't identify those coworkers. ;)
-- GSH
Too bad Pandemic is gone. At least BZ2 still lives on.
GSH: You think the BZ2 source will leak out now? :) or maybe something like doxygen docs? :-)
Quote from: GSH on November 23, 2009, 05:55:52 PM
A month ago, Pandemic IT replaced a really broken printer on the 16th floor. Looks like some (ex-)coworkers found that dead printer and had fun with it:
http://kotaku.com/5410999/pandemic-studios-says-goodbye-geek-gangsta-style (http://kotaku.com/5410999/pandemic-studios-says-goodbye-geek-gangsta-style)
Good riddance to the printer. Sorry I can't identify those coworkers. ;)
-- GSH
Looks like a LaserJet 4000 series, I agree with that good riddance. Those things had expensive toner cartridges and were a P.I.T.A. to move around. >:
Quote from: appel on November 24, 2009, 01:53:42 AM
GSH: You think the BZ2 source will leak out now? :) or maybe something like doxygen docs? :-)
Atari hold the copyright, IIRC.
Quote from: AHadley on November 24, 2009, 09:19:22 AM
Atari hold the copyright, IIRC.
Seeing a list of classes and methods doesn't equal the source-code.
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GSH: You think the BZ2 source will leak out now? or maybe something like doxygen docs?
Given how much of a jerk you've been to me and the 1.3 cycle/community, that request from you is a bit ... presumptive.
-- GSH
Quote from: appel on November 24, 2009, 12:26:54 PM
Seeing a list of classes and methods doesn't equal the source-code.
By which I meant you'd need to ask them.
LOL at the office space reference. Great movie.
Yeah, my impression on leaking the source is that it'd be bad.
Hahaha, i watched that video GSH... you guys must have had a right laugh on your time off (time off? what?). Yeh thats a laserjet. Had an abundance of those thingsi n our school. Forever running out of expensive toner cartridges and costing students money...
Blah... Pandemic was great. I guess now i have another reason to despise anything that falls out of EA's studio (i can honestly say i haven't enjoyed a single one of their games), even if it wasnt entirely their fault.
GSH and Ken are probably the only people WITH the source code besides old backups, and as far as im concerned, the only people who SHOULD have it. As soon as that leaks into the community, we are going to have all sorts of crappy buggy releases not-so-capable programmers have tried. I admit i ask for ridiculous things for the patch from the latest patches, but the way i see it only those two have the capability to decide what should and shouldn't go in.
I dont think i made the point i was trying to here... will try again when not so shattered...
Quote from: GSH on November 24, 2009, 08:18:19 PM
Given how much of a jerk you've been to me and the 1.3 cycle/community, that request from you is a bit ... presumptive.
:?
Quote from: TheJamsh on November 25, 2009, 03:54:47 PM
GSH and Ken are probably the only people WITH the source code besides old backups, and as far as im concerned, the only people who SHOULD have it. As soon as that leaks into the community, we are going to have all sorts of crappy buggy releases not-so-capable programmers have tried. I admit i ask for ridiculous things for the patch from the latest patches, but the way i see it only those two have the capability to decide what should and shouldn't go in.
I'm not interested in the source for the sake of patching it, improving (or not) it or using it for some purpose. It's a technical and educational curiosity, seeing how things are implemented, even if it's in vague docs. It's fun to see how things are done behind the scenes, in a game you've played and loved for years.
But I agree, there aren't many around here that could even properly use the source-code were it to be released, so, I recommend not to release it. But there is nothing wrong with describing how things are implemented, e.g. "We did this to do this, and that to...". It does not break copyright laws and prevents people from exploiting the source.
But in any case, this suggestion seems dead on arrival judging by GSH's comments.
I'm curious to see how/if it differs from the DLL code.
I also agree that the source code should stay with the three programmers.
You mean two... (Last I checked, OM was given a taste of the code to make the .msh viewer.)
Quote from: Warfreak on November 26, 2009, 08:13:48 AM
You mean two... (Last I checked, OM was given a taste of the code to make the .msh viewer.)
You're forgetting Brad Pickering. I'd assume he still has access to the source code if he wants.
Hmm, could have sworn Ken and Nathan were the only ones who even bothered to mess with the code after 1.2(?) from the original team.
Quote from: Warfreak on November 26, 2009, 09:04:07 AM
Hmm, could have sworn Ken and Nathan were the only ones who even bothered to mess with the code after 1.2(?) from the original team.
They were as far as I know.
IIRC, GSH's words: "Brad Pickering is smart enough to realise his free time is his free time"
Still an original programmer though.
We've been fortunate enough to have had Nathan & Ken over the years, but yeah the other credited programmers Brad, Julio, John & George (Beatles?) can always revisit (the BZ2 code) should they somehow decide to. This includes anyone else on the original team (including BZ1). I'm sure they'd all be insane coming back to it tho. :)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-network/1211-Counter-Active-Gaming
Pandemic Studios mentioned in that video, if only briefly. Still worth the watch.
Don't know if the joke is in good taste or too soon, though... I'll take no stance on this one.
"The bannnnd! We'll get the bannnd back together!" :mrgreen:
Quote from: technoid on November 26, 2009, 01:34:02 PM
We've been fortunate enough to have had Nathan & Ken over the years, but yeah the other credited programmers Brad, Julio, John & George (Beatles?) can always revisit (the BZ2 code) should they somehow decide to. This includes anyone else on the original team (including BZ1). I'm sure they'd all be insane coming back to it tho. :)
DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?