Last night brought about a rumor that EA was going to lay off more employees, and now it seems that an extension of that rumor is that the Brisbane office of Pandemic Studios (known best for Destroy All Humans! and the rumored game based on The Dark Knight) could be one such studio that gets cut.

But unlike many cuts, where the studio would be closed, this rumor points to the studio being set free. "It was more of a 'Find a new publisher. Good luck.' kind of thing," says the source.

A bonus for the studio, should the rumor be true, is that they get to keep their equipment. Meanwhile, no mention at all was made of the LA branch of Pandemic.

According to our source, the allegedly now-closed Brisbane studio was working on an "open world reality show" game called The Next Big Thing for the Wii. It's unclear if the studio will continue to work on that particular project outside of the bounds of EA's ownership. -- Kotaku

Kotaku attempted to get a follow-up line from Electronic Arts, but to little avail.

"In December, EA announced a cost reduction initiative that will impact facilities and headcount," said Mariam Sughayer, Electronic Arts spokeswoman. "We do not expect to make any more public announcements until our earnings call in early February.

"Outside of our scheduled earnings call, we aren't providing any new information on the status of individual facilities." -- Kotaku

At least the studio, should the rumor be true, has a chance to survive, which is more than some studios get. At the same time, if a company as big as EA won't hold on to them, what chance then do they have with anyone else in the current economic climate?