The Pandemic brand still exists but is really a small division of EALA made up of a "core ip team" composed of those who didn't get fired.
I think you got that right.
I don't think this is going to be on the same level as Mercs 2. I think this might be a budget-priced title.
Pretty sure this is wrong, though.
One of the reasons EA bought Bioware/Pandemic is that they had a proven track record of generating original IP. At that time EA was performing with really lackluster results in original IP arena. In a sense, they were buying know-how. However, with the troubles Pandemic had with the canceled Batman game, and the Mercs 2 game sputtering onto the shelves in a half-finished state, it became clear that they weren't consistently able to deliver. An acquaintance who worked on both titles said the first one was virtually a dream project, very intelligently handled, and the sequel was clearly a clusterfuck from the word go.
Mercenaries was a huge IP boon for EA, and can be again if they don't fumble the execution. The marketing push was huge for
Mercs 2 at the outset, and suddenly petered out just prior to launch. They knew it was going to ship buggy and untuned, and likely decided to cut their losses with that iteration. Doesn't mean
3 will be that way.
The Saboteur may turn out to be a profitable IP for EA, at which point they may want to leverage not only the game title, but the Pandemic brand as well.
Whatever portion of original Pandemic personnel may remain is irrelevant to EA's ownership of the branding and intellectual property they purchased when they bought Bioware/Pandemic. There may be one person from the original team, or a dozen or zero -- EA can still call a team "Pandemic Studios" with just as much right as they can make a Mercenaries sequel, the same as they've done with all the Westwood
Command and Conquer stuff. It may yet turn out to be a PR disaster to close an entire studio, let go of 200 employees, and then announce that the three remaining employees on the core team are "Pandemic Studios" -- we'll see.