The North American company will continue to develop games in the saga, but it will no longer do so exclusively.
Disney announced the purchase of Lucasfilm in October 2012, an announcement that was accompanied by an internal restructuring. The first victim was LucasArts, the legendary video game studio of George Lucas’ factory. The closure took away all the projects they had underway, among which was the promising Star Wars 1313. At the same time, Mickey Mouse’s company signed an agreement with Electronic Arts, a commitment that has allowed it to work with the saga exclusively. Almost ten years later, the contract has not been renewed. We review EA’s decade at the helm of Star Wars, as well as the future of the brand.
Lucasfilm Games is the new label that will carry all Lucasfilm licensed video games. It is not, therefore, an internal study like LucasArts was. The new division announced a game based on Indiana Jones, coming from Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames (the studio responsible for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus). Ubisoft Massive Entertainment (The Division 2) will handle an open world title, implicitly confirming the end of the exclusivity agreement with Electronic Arts. Given the initial confusion, the North American giant informed that they would continue working on future titles: “We love Star Wars and look forward to continuing our collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. We are making more games, ”they said.
Lucasfilm Games logo.
The initial problems
EA’s history with Star Wars began years ago, thanks to BioWare’s MMORPG, The Old Republic. However, it was in 2015 when they published the first project resulting from the exclusivity agreement. We refer to Star Wars: Battlefront, a video game developed by the studio responsible for the Battlefield saga. In that first project, the players missed a bit more content and playable depth.
The sequel, released two years later, introduced many of the elements that the community had asked for, including the single-player campaign with a canon story. Bad luck was primed with Star Wars: Battlefront II, which ended up receiving ravenous criticism due to its monetization and microtransaction system.
As a result of this disaster, EA modified its entire strategy for the future, but the damage to the image had already been done. Despite the undoubted quality and updates that further improved the product, Battlefront II never lifted the dust from controversy. On the other hand, his free-to-play mobile game, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, has tiptoed past without making much noise.
Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Canceled games and model crisis
Just as unfortunate were the projects that ended up in the drawers or the garbage can. Visceral Games, the Dead Space studio, was involved in the development of an action-adventure video game directed by Amy Hennig, the creative director and screenwriter of the original Uncharted trilogy. Although it was announced and shown behind the scenes, Electronic Arts made the decision to rethink the project. But on the way they took Visceral ahead, which closed its doors forever. In a message posted by Patrick Söderlund on EA’s official website, the manager explained that they preferred to opt for a service-type title:
“In principle, it was going to be a linear adventure game based on a story. During the development process, we have tested the game concept with multiple players. We have listened to your thoughts on how you want to play as we closely followed the fundamental changes in the market. It has become clear that, to offer an experience that our players want to continue enjoying for a long time, we need to change the design, “he said. The company entrusted EA Vancouver with the game redesign, which became known under the code name Orca, but was ultimately canceled for good.
It is not the only title that will never see the light of day. EA Vancouver undertook another project, later joined by Criterion as the lead studio. Viking (codename) was born as a spin-off of Star Wars: Battlefront and was a game with open-world elements, according to an article published by Kotaku. Although planned for 2020, logistical problems and tight deadlines culminated in its cancellation in 2019.
Visceral Games project canceled.
Green shoots: the acclaimed games
Sweeter the last two years have been. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order by Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall 2, Apex Legends) was the single player game that many fans of the galactic saga were waiting for. The title has not only worked in the market, but it has managed to restore lost prestige. The honeys of success ensure a sequel already confirmed, although the game has not been officially announced. EA Motive’s Star Wars Squadrons is a smaller video game in scale, but it has also garnered good numbers and reviews. It is the path that the galactic saga has to follow from now on.
The exclusivity agreement may not have been renewed, but Electronic Arts has the opportunity to continue offering talent from its studios in new Star Wars stories. Andrew Wilson, CEO of the company, stressed at the meeting where the results of the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 were presented that 52 million Star Wars games have already been sold, which has generated a value of more than 3,000 million dollars in net reserves.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Lucasfilm Games will diversify Star Wars video games, so that new experiences will be developed from different studies and philosophies. This can be an opportunity that benefits all parties. We will still have to wait until the projects that are drawn on the very, very distant horizon crystallize.
