With the announcement earlier this week that Ubisoft will be making a new open Star Wars game, Disney has seemingly ended their multi-year exclusivity deal with videogame juggernaut EA regarding the development of Star Wars games which has been in place since 2013. This is monumental news that tells us a lot of this about the state of Star Wars games currently and moving forward.
Here’s what we can gather:
Disney unhappy with current production
Disney is quite polite and jovial with EA as evidenced by Sean Shoptaw, senior vice president of Global Games and Interactive Services at Disney in speaking to WIRED saying that EA is still a very important and strategic partner moving forward. However, you don’t need force sensitivity to see that The House of Mouse isn’t exactly pleased with the fruits of the long-standing deal.
While EA has produced some hits in the span of the last 8 years—Battlefront 2 and Jedi Fallen Order and Squadrons all were well-made examples—but maybe there’s something about the quality, quantity, and variety of games that fall just short of Disney’s expectations. Additionally, there’s also the poor handling of EA executives regarding matters such as the Battlefront 2 Microtransaction Debacle as well as the enormous waste of resources that came with the cancellation of bounty hunter adventure Star Wars 1313 and the Amy Hennig helmed Ragtag.
EA will still make Star Wars games
That being said, that it looks like EA will still be making Star Wars games at least, for now. It is very likely that until the exclusivity deal actually wraps up in 2023 that EA will be working on sequels to its established franchises Battlefront and Jedi Fallen Order, maybe even a new game to end on a strong note. The latter is probably what they want to shoot for if they want to keep a good working relationship with Disney and Lucasfilm even after their exclusivity times out.
More Star Wars games
What this all means at this point is that there will definitely be a huge surge of Star Wars games in our future. If EA doesn’t lose favor with Disney, they’ll join Ubisoft and Bethesda on the massive stable of studios that will be pumping out a lot of Star Wars and Lucasfilm Games in the foreseeable future. That means that in a year we might be able to see 2-3 AAA games that are based on Lucasfilm properties. That’s a whole heck of a lot compared to the handful in 8 years with just EA steering the cruiser.
More importantly, this not only resolves the volume of Star Wars-based videogames that will be coming out but also the variety and quality of the games as well. With multiple companies working in different games, that means the workload is a lot more manageable and the development can be able to run that much more smoothly—which results in better games. It’s not a complete guarantee but it is definitely an improvement to just one entity handling everything while developing the next.
Additionally, we’ll be seeing a variety of Lucasfilm games that will be coming out in terms of genre, scope, and narrative with the different studios focusing on their respective strengths. Ubisoft’s open-world prowess with games such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and even Far Cry will ensure that their game will definitely have an interesting and immersive world to play around in. Machine Games on the other hand really knows how to make a first-person shooter feel fun and satisfying so I’m excited to see their Indiana Jones game.
Down the line, we’re hoping that studios like Bioware who has a penchant for exploring unique alien worlds and civilizations; Guerilla games who excels in bold sweeping epics and making interesting enemies and alternative combat; or even Firaxis Games for a proper Star Wars RTS or top-down Civ-like game.
It’s clear that the future is looking very bright for Star Wars and Lucasfilm Games. Star Wars is one of the biggest IPs not just on Disney’s roster but in the whole world. Its recent movie outings have been met with furrowed brows but media like the Mandalorian TV show on Disney+ is reinvigorating positive interest in the property. It looks like the videogame space will be joining the fray is a big way very, very soon.
What kind of Star Wars game do you want to see from this new age of games? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
For more Star Wars check out There’s Just Spiders In Star Wars Now, Which Sucks For Me, An Arachnaphobe and EA Removes Microtransactions For Star Wars: Battlefront 2
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