EA Formally Announces Mercs Inc.

Bitmob.com reported yesterday that developer Pandemic was in development on a new Mercenaries title prior to mass layoffs at the developer last week, including an early trailer for the game. Reportedly titled Mercs Inc, it appeared to place an emphasis on co-operative and adversarial multiplayer gameplay involving the vehicles that have long been a staple of the series. After positive responses to the footage spread across the internet last night, EA has made an official announcement for the game, confirming the Mercs Inc title. The announcement lends credence to EA’s claim that despite the “closure” of Pandemic as an independent studio, key figures from the team have been retained and will continue work on Pandemic IP at EALA in Southern California.

While no platforms have been announced for Mercs Inc, it can be assumed that it will be aimed at HD platforms given EA’s poor sales performance on the Wii this year (despite positive critical responses for those titles in the games press) and their recently announced intention to refocus on more profitable ventures. The press release for the Mercs Inc. announcement can be found below.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pandemic™ Studios, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that an all-new game in the studio’s popular Mercenaries™ franchise is in early stages of development at EALA. ‘Mercs Inc’ (working title) is the latest entry in the action series first made popular by Mercenaries in 2005 and most recently by Mercenaries 2: World in Flames™. Mercs Inc will be the first Pandemic game to be developed by the studio at its new home in Playa Vista. Mercs Inc will also be the first Pandemic game released after the launch this December 8th of the award-winning World War II action-sandbox game, The Saboteur™.

“We are very excited to announce a new instalment in the popular Mercenaries series because it demonstrates our continued commitment to Pandemic’s rich catalogue of intellectual properties,” said Nick Earl, Senior VP and Group General Manager at EA. “From the studio at EALA, a core creative team is forging new ground and conceptualizing new ideas for this exciting franchise.”

The most imminent release from Pandemic Studios is the action sandbox game, The Saboteur which ships on December 8, 2009. The Saboteur stars Sean Devlin; a street-tough Irish race car driver trapped behind enemy lines in 1940s Nazi-occupied France. Motivated by revenge, Sean fights, climbs, and races through open-world Paris, sneaking into the heart of the Nazi operations and sabotaging their every move. The Saboteur will be available for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox360® video game and entertainment system, and the PC. The Saboteur has been rated M by the ESRB with the following as descriptors: blood, intense violence, nudity, sexual themes, strong language. More information about The Saboteur, can be found at http://www.thesaboteurgame.com. Platform(s) and ship date for Mercs Inc not announced. This game is not yet rated by the ESRB.

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