EA signs Mercenaries 2

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 February, 2007

On PS3 later this year.

Electronic Arts has signed on to publish Pandemic's upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames worldwide.

Formerly a LucasArts property, Mercenaries 2 is expected to launch on PlayStation 3 later this year, and has been persistently linked with an Xbox 360 release too - although nothing's confirmed.

"Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will set the bar for explosive, open world action games in the next generation, and everyone at Pandemic is excited that fans will be able to get their hands on it later this year," said Pandemic CEO Andrew Goldman.

The original Mercenaries appeared on PS2 and Xbox to critical acclaim, combining brilliantly violent action with an open world setting.

We should have a Q&A with some of the parties involved later on today, so stick around for more.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ZuluHero #1 5 years ago

    wee! at least its signed - but EA? Aww man...

    /mixed feelings

  • MrFlintBlackman #2 5 years ago

    A new sandbox game but this tme with REAL adverts! WOW!

    FUCK OFF...........please.

    But this is EA is it not?
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/07 @ 09:05

  • ZuluHero #3 5 years ago

    it didn't say that in the article - where do you hear that?

  • OnlyMe #4 5 years ago

    One of the few things to come out of LucasArts in the past years (not Star Wars related), and they give it up. What a wonderful company.

    But going to EA, not sure if that's any better. At least, LucasArts don't mess with the games so they all look the same.

  • space_ace #5 5 years ago

    foolish jedi

  • crashVoodoo #6 5 years ago

    EA aren't going to alter it. I'm under the impression that the design is locked down and they're just finishing it off. Hardly going to come along demanding they stick in EATrax are they ... they're just publishing.

    Also if i remember correctly, lucasarts wouldn't publish because it was Pandemics I.P. and they wouldn't let them have it. So if this one does well, they could very well have a completely different publisher again for Mercs3.

  • OnlyMe #7 5 years ago

    Ah, but EA is more willing to pay big for titles like this, I think. I'm pretty sure Pandemonic wouldn't sell because LucasArts are greedy bastards who thinks they're the best company ever and people should be honored if they wanted something from them. The bid was probably not big enough.

    EA, however, if they see a potential success, and seeing they're already well into the whole war-genre, they'll sure as hell put a big high enough to make any developer sell their IP.

    That, of course, depends on how much Pandemonic loves their IP. But I fear that the bid just wasn't big enough.

    Also, they weren't going to alter Burnout. Look where that is now.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/07 @ 09:22

  • Steroyd #8 5 years ago

    EA published Timesplitters Future Perfect and that was meh compared to Timesplitters 2.

    Bad move IMO.

  • DanWhitehead #9 5 years ago

    Really hoping for an Xbox 360 version, since this is one of the few games that might entice me to kick my overdraft in the nuts and get a PS3. The first game is fantastic, and a next-gen version makes me drool. And given that the game has been in active development now for ages, I don't see how signing up with Big Bad EA (wooooooo) as the publisher will affect the content that much.

  • Xerx3s #10 5 years ago

    That's it then. Even pandemic crossed over to the dark side.

  • Tyronne #11 5 years ago

    If they want to make some money back then this will come out on the xbox360.

  • stx #12 5 years ago

    If it doesn't come out for the 360, I'll eat my hat.

    My bacon hat.

  • spongebob #13 5 years ago

    Where do you get your bacon hats?

  • Redeye #14 5 years ago

    EA = burn. >;)

    *wants a bacon hat, too*

  • windflaw #15 5 years ago

    @ DanWhitehead

    It's coming... :-)

  • riz23 #16 5 years ago

    It's just a publishing deal. The fact that EA has it is probably a good thing. It means a (probable) great game gets the marketing push it needs to make it a big seller. Nothing sinister here, move along now.

  • The-Bodybuilder #17 5 years ago

    @ MrFlintblackman

    Honestly, what was the point of your post?

  • kangarootoo #18 5 years ago

    @crashVoodoo

    "EA aren't going to alter it. I'm under the impression that the design is locked down and they're just finishing it off."

    Aaaaahahahahahahahahaha. "Locked down", thats awesome, oh my sides.

    P.s. Of course I'm not saying it WILL change, but if some wizard at EA decides it needs rabbits with roller skates then that is what it will get, regardless of where they are in the current schedule. There is no such thing as "too late" when there are 16 other hours still left in the day for people to fill with work.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #19 5 years ago

    The fact that EA has it is probably a good thing

    *cough* OddworldStrangersWrath *cough*

  • Rambaldi #20 5 years ago

    "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will set the bar for explosive, open world action games in the next generation"

    /vomits

  • agparrot #21 5 years ago

    I agree with the sentiments expressed by MrFlintBlackman and backed up by OnlyMe with reference to Burnout.

    That is that the first Burnout game to go to EA - 3/Takedown, was riddled with stupid and distracting 20ft high Advertising boards everywhere, and a largely irksome EATraxxxxx list, and a totally lunatic (and thankfully switch off-able) American DJ.

    If the Mercenaries2 world becomes infested with advertising hoardings, then they better be fully destructible like the rest of the game world....

    Looking forward to playing this in 2013 when I can afford PS3

    edit for spelling
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/07 @ 12:18

  • SomaticSense #22 5 years ago

    Why is this news article in the 360 section as well seeing as it's not even (and never to my knowledge been) a 360 game? It's not the first time in recent times, so is EG trying to rub us 360 owner's noses in it?

  • riz23 #23 5 years ago

    Oddworld: Strangers Wrath is different in the fact that it was picked up almost as an afterthought. The game was dropped by someone else iirc and then EA took it. I do agree they could have pushed it more, but that was an Xbox exclusive, which even though you might not like it ,was a minor platform in the big scheme of things. That's not to say the PS3 won't pan out the same way, but I think we all believe Mercenaries 2 will be multiplatform (2) so worth the extra marketing effort.

  • Triggerhappytel #24 5 years ago

    With all the rumours and now EA publishing, I will eat my mouldy socks if this isn't on Xbox 360.

    I heard a few months ago Sony was linked to a publishing deal. I don't know why they didn't pick it up as an exclusive. Although hardly a big title along the lines of MGS4 or DMC4, this would've been a solid game to tout as a full-on exclusive.

  • Rodriguez #25 5 years ago

    I really hope this appears on 360 as the original was one of my favourite games on the Xbox. Calling in a carpet bomb on top of a bunch of enemies was absolutley brilliant fun. Speaking of which, I wish Microsoft would hurry up and make the original Mercenaries backwards compatible on 360!

  • ronuds #26 5 years ago

    There goes any chance of that game being good.

  • mike_mgoblue #27 5 years ago

    There is one reason why this is listed in the Xbox 360 articles: BECAUSE MERCENARIES 2 WILL BE RELEASED ON THE Xbox 360!!!

    Listen, we experienced nearly identical things with Fight Night 3, Assassins Creed, Unreal 3, VF5, and many others...but the bottom line is that all of those games were originally announced only for the PS3, but they were also eventually announced for the Xbox 360.

    The fact of the matter is that Sony pays publishers to only announce games for the Playstation 3, for as long as possible, even though those games are DEFINITELY going to be released for the Xbox 360, too!

    We will DEFINITELY see Mercenaries 2 on the Xbox 360, just like Assassins Creed, Fight Night Round 3, Unreal 3, VF5, and many others.

    Playstation 3 continues to lose third-party game exclusives every day, while the Xbox 360 continues to gain third-party game exclusives every day. For example, Xbox 360 recently gained "Hour of Victory" from Midway; that is an AWESOME WW2 first-person shooter.

  • Jas315 #28 5 years ago

    "The fact of the matter is that Sony pays publishers to only announce games for the Playstation 3, for as long as possible, even though those games are DEFINITELY going to be released for the Xbox 360, too!"

    OMG, the worst fanboy assumption ever.

    *cough*mike_mgoblue really needs a life*cough*