Sales soar for BioWare/Pandemic

Recently formed 'super developer' BioWare Pandemic Studios has bucked the trend during what has widely been cited as a difficult period for the software industry, with combined sales generating revenue of USD 800 million.

According to US site Gamasutra, the two companies have sold a total of 28 million copies of their various titles, and it is expected that the developers will be making a number of new announcements at the forthcoming Game Developers Conference later this month, possibly detailing next-generation software development for the two firms.

Highlights for the well respected developers include BioWare's Jade Empire, which recently picked up the Interactive Achievements Awards Role Playing Game of the Year, and Pandemic's Mercenaries, which quickly became the best selling new intellectual property of 2005 in the North American market.

Pandemic also created the best selling Star Wars game of all time, shifting 4 million copies of Star Wars: Battlefront II to date, dwarfing the success of the original Battlefront game to become the second biggest selling game of 2005 in the US. Additionally, the THQ published Destroy All Humans sold in excess of one million copies, and is currently enjoying further success under the budget Platinum Hits range on both PS2 and Xbox.

Ray Muzyka, joint CEO of BioWare Corp, commented: "The advent of next generation platforms opens up new vistas for us to experiment with new approaches and fresh ideas. By pushing the limits of these new worlds and building 'event' products, and by continually focusing on creating the best place for team-oriented talent, we will continue to drive innovation in the industry and deliver top-quality games to our valued community of fans."

The joint venture, established in November in a USD 300 million deal set up by former EA boss John Riccitiello's Elevation Partners, created a combined group of almost 500 employees in the US, Canada and Australia.