Pandemic Still Feeling Like an Independent Studio

Despite Electronic Arts’ acquisition of Pandemic (along with BioWare) back in November, co-founder and president Josh Resnick says that the company still feels like it’s independent. He told GamesIndustry.biz, “It says Pandemic on the box, we’ve got Pandemic email addresses and we’re making Pandemic games.”

It’s an important declaration for Resnick to make, with an EA takeover of Take-Two looming. Ken Levine has stated previously that he wasn’t concerned by all the talk of acquisitions, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of other big name individuals and teams under the Take-Two umbrella, such as Sid Meier and the entirety of Rockstar Games.

“John [Riccitiello, Electronic Arts' CEO] has said that in the past interfering with the internal studios hasn’t worked for them,” Resnick said. “That’s not the model that EA is now following.

“The model now is to trust your talent, support your talent, give them what they need to do and let them tap into what EA has to offer, which is the fact that they are the best publishing organisation in the world.

“It just doesn’t make logical or business sense for them to change a development studio like that. John and all of the executives at EA have very loudly said that in public. They want to empower their creative talent.”

Certainly sounds like a vote of confidence from Resnick in EA and Riccitiello’s methods. I’ve previously stated that Riccitiello is the type of guy that gamers would want running a company like EA, and so far, it sounds like that has proven to be the case. We’ll see what happens if – but more likely when – Take-Two becomes property of EA.

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