Likely prompted by and confirming the rumoured spawned from an ex-employee's resume, EA have officially announced Mercs Inc - the next addition to the Mercenaries franchise from the remnants left of the canabalised Pandemic Studios now at the Los Angeles-based EALA studio.

Mercs Inc will be the first Pandemic game to be developed by the studio at its new home in Playa Vista. Mercs Inc will also be the first Pandemic game released after the launch this December 8th of the award-winning World War II action-sandbox game, The Saboteur™.

“We are very excited to announce a new instalment in the popular Mercenaries series because it demonstrates our continued commitment to Pandemic’s rich catalogue of intellectual properties,” said Nick Earl, Senior VP and Group General Manager at EA. “From the studio at EALA, a core creative team is forging new ground and conceptualizing new ideas for this exciting franchise.

That's pretty much all the press release has to say, going on to plug The Saboteur for the bulk of the text.

Fortunately, while the game was initially presumed cancelled by ex-Pandemic staff a gameplay demo video found its way online. Check it out here.