EA wasn't lying when they said that Pandemic Studios' franchises would live on after the studio's closure. Today they confirmed that a multiplayer installment in the Mercenaries sandbox series was in development.

The game's existence was revealed by a demo video posted on Pandemic artist Dorian Compo's portfolio. It's the first demo of the game so it's a bit rough but the idea's nonetheless intriguing. Multiplayer in the Mercenaries series had been previously limited to two-player co-op.

Compo claimed in his portfolio that the project was cancelled but apparently that's not the case. Today EA announced that the "core creative team" from Pandemic has been relocated to EA's Los Angeles studio and this game, Mercenaries Inc., is their next project. The platforms for the game weren't revealed but Mercenaries 2 was a PC/PS3/360 release so this latest game could very well be multiplatform as well.

"We are very excited to announce a new installment in the popular Mercenaries series because it demonstrates our continued commitment to Pandemic's rich catalogue of intellectual properties," EA EA senior VP and group general manager Nick Earl said in the statement.