EA Acquires Star Wars Game License

Dead Space, Battlefield devs working on Star Wars projects.

by Andrew Goldfarb
May 6, 2013




EA has announced a deal with Disney to publish future Star Wars games. As announced today, the two companies have established "a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines."
According to the announcement, EA "will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories."
According to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, three studios are already working on Star Wars games: Battlefield developer DICE, Dead Space developer Visceral and Mass Effect developer BioWare.
“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” Gibeau said. “Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”
“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” added Disney co-president John Pleasants. “Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.”
Specific financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Earlier this year, internal Star Wars development studio LucasArts was closed down, shifting to a licensing model, suspending announced projects including star Wars 1313.
Previously, EA published BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Developing...

That press release should be read while the Imperial March plays in the background.

[quote name='Krymner']That press release should be read while the Imperial March plays in the background.[/QUOTE]

With your hand freshly cut off.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic III by Bioware pleas

Masters of Teras Kasi 2?

[quote name='bardockkun']Masters of Teras Kasi 2?[/QUOTE]


Since no one has really played that game..I would not be surprised if it was just called Teras Kasi.

Oh ING GREAT..........EA is handling star wars games....Here we go with paid DLC shit..........want force push ? That will be an extra 200 MSP

[quote name='Poor2More']Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic III by Bioware pleas[/QUOTE]

It's called Star Wars: The Old Republic


[quote name='bardockkun']Masters of Teras Kasi 2?[/QUOTE]


Sure, why not.


[quote name='ITDEFX']
Oh ING GREAT..........EA is handling star wars games....Here we go with paid DLC shit..........want force push ? That will be an extra 200 MSP [/QUOTE]


Gotta get that extra money somehow!

Finally some good star wars games. battlefront/field HERE WE GO!!!

[quote name='ITDEFX']Since no one has really played that game..I would not be surprised if it was just called Teras Kasi.[/QUOTE]

I actually have a copy of Masters of Teras Kasi.

And that's actually a good example of the kind of game I'm afraid EA will push for with this exclusive license. I would much prefer to see the Star Wars IP licensed out to numerous companies based on which developers could make the best games. I konw that EA was already pretty deep into Star Wars related development, but I can only see this as a negative for the IP's video game franchises.

The developers under the EA umbrella are capable of producing some solid Star Wars titles, I have no doubt of that. I just fear EA's marketing influence leaking into them. (as it has with ALL of their IPs, original and licensed)

The Force DLC - $19.99.

Internet connection required to use. Servers up sometimes... maybe.

All I can think of is:

Unable to access online servers. The following DLCs have been disabled:

*List of DLC here*

Unable to load savegame because DLC. Try again later, *evil_laughter.mp3*

UnlimitedPowerEACEO.gif goes here.

If this means new and decent Star Wars games then I'm all for it. I feel like all I've really played this generation that was Star Wars related was the first Force Unleashed.

I'd love to see some old series brought back...Teras Kasi, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Rebel Assault, etc.

A few reason why I hate EA
-They buy out some great companies, absorb it into their collective and then kill it off. (westwoods)
-Stupid DRM (simcity)
-Stupid DLC.

If they polish off Battlefront 3, it could be out by fall of this year.

btw...With Lucas out of the picture, does anyone think EA knows how to tell a proper story set in the Star Wars universe that fits with everything we are familiar with?

Were you suggesting Lucas still knows how to tell a proper story?

I've got a bad feeling about this...

It's as if a million voices cried out all at once, and then were silenced.

Revenge of the Sixth indeed...

I would totally buy a Star Wars flavored Battlefield game from DICE. And a Star Wars horror game from the Dead Space developers could be cool. (Although I heard some bad things about DS3, so I dunno about that one.)

There's some serious potential here. I just hope EA doesn't decide to ruin things with DRM and microtransaction garbage.

[quote name='j-cart']It's called Star Wars: The Old Republic [/QUOTE]
In my opinion that game is not a true sucessor to it. It is no where near as good as the original games. I also enjoyed the Jedi Academy games. They were enjoyable.
[quote name='JasonTerminator']I would totally buy a Star Wars flavored Battlefield game from DICE.[/QUOTE]
Yes, yes and more yes!!!!

When I read DICE, I immediately imagined a Battlefield Style Battlefront. My goodness, a Battlefront III with the Frostbite Engine 3 sounds so good right now.

Hoping for a KOTOR III from Bioware. While I enjoy the story TOR brought in, I'm not so keen with the actual game; I prefer a Single Player RPG experience than a MMORPG. Doesn't interest me as much tbh.

And I don't mind another Star Wars oriented RTS Game. I really enjoyed Empire at War and Empire at War: FOC. Loved them space battles.

[quote name='JasonTerminator']I would totally buy a Star Wars flavored Battlefield game from DICE. And a Star Wars horror game from the Dead Space developers could be cool. (Although I heard some bad things about DS3, so I dunno about that one.)
[/QUOTE]

Hopefully Visceral does something with the Blackwing Virus from Death Troopers and goes with some more Survival Horror than more Action than Horror.

If EA can pull off a good x-wing vs tie fighter, I will bow down before the emporer and give my soul to the dark side.

Maybe they can get Bioware Austin to make a good Old Republic game that doesn't lose its enjoyment factor after a month.

Hm. On the one hand, I don't know what this does to "Chris Avellone Presents: Star Wars Episode 3.5". On the other hand, we might finally get another ing Battlefront-y game.

After hearing the shit that Disney pulled on the 1313 crew, I wouldn't buy anything that Disney puts out star wars wise. One of my good friends got screwed over during that process after working his ass off on the soundtrack and audio for it and get the pink slip to boot.

Well it looks like we aren't going to get shit for awhile (not before the end of the year anyways). I am betting either it's going to take time for EA to figure out what to do with all the unfinished products or how to make us pay for shitty DLC.

EA games have lost its flare to me. but hopefully they can make great star wars games