EA acquires Star Wars license from Disney

Falthyron · 06-05-2013 11:41pm #1

Announced today that EA has obtained a long-term contract for many Star Wars games to be developed by a number of it's internal studios, such as Visceral, DICE, and BioWare.

Full story here.

As a gamer, this is a complete disaster. As a financial move by Disney, this is a brilliant agreement.

Games like Battlefront III will now be redesigned using the Frostbite 2.0 Engine (like every other game currently in development at EA) and feature map packs of your favourite planets for €10, or lightsaber crystal colours for €2.

Perhaps Visceral will try taking on the Jedi Knight series, but with the way Dead Space 3 turned out, I am sure it will be as vacuous and devoid of substance like any other EA game.

BioWare to return to KotOR and finally make KotOR III? But, this would lead to them competing with themselves due to SWTOR.

However, EA have proven themselves at milking franchises and with Disney's current performances at shutting down the Clone Wars TV show, cancelling the 3D versions of the movies being released, hardly surprising financial concerns take precedence over the desires of fans.

Any predictions? Or who would you like to see develop Star Wars games?

Pushtrak · 06-05-2013 11:49pm

Falthyron wrote: »

BioWare to return to KotOR and finally make KotOR III? But, this would lead to them competing with themselves due to SWTOR.

This is what I want to see, and I don't see them competing with themselves by doing so. Sure, there might be some overlap between MMO players and RPG players, but they aren't really competing markets.

06-05-2013 11:49pm

Just came here to post this.

As others have said already, goodbye to games on steam.
Some of my favourite games have been Lucasarts titles, from Point and click to dark forces and tie fighter et al.
Feel down about it.

Gbear · 06-05-2013 11:51pm

Falthyron wrote: »

BioWare to return to KotOR and finally make KotOR III? But, this would lead to them competing with themselves due to SWTOR.

No point throwing good money after bad (or whatever phrase that would make sense).
SWTOR was a bit of disaster. Making a good game that would sell could only be good from EA's point of view.

The end notwithstanding, ME3 was excellent. There'll be plenty of Bioware fans as a result. There'll also be the KOTOR crowd as well as anyone else who's interested in something Star Wars based.

Seems like a no-brainer to me. For all the flak they get there's plenty of good games made with the EA tag. If there wasn't they wouldn't be around to complain about.

Kiith · 07-05-2013 12:53am

I'd rather see it with EA then sitting in a hole for the next 5 years. While i don't like some of their practices regarding DLC, they also have some great games in their catalogue.

If we get 1313, Knights of the Old Republic,and Battlefront (optimistic to get all 3 i know) released, i don't see the problem.

Although having to use Origin sucks.

Falthyron · 07-05-2013 1:31am

Kiith wrote: »

I'd rather see it with EA then sitting in a hole for the next 5 years. While i don't like some of their practices regarding DLC, they also have some great games in their catalogue.

If we get 1313, Knights of the Old Republic,and Battlefront (optimistic to get all 3 i know) released, i don't see the problem.

Although having to use Origin sucks.

But do you want Battlefront as proposed by Free Radical (Leaked Footage) or do you want Battlefield with Star Wars window-dressing? Also, much of BioWare has changed since the original KotOR as they have lost many of the designers, writers and developers once connected with that title. If their efforts with SWTOR are anything to go by, a return to that universe has me a little more skeptical.

I would agree with 1313 though, as I am interested in seeing more of this. However, my main question would be this:

Which would you prefer? A thrown together, cheap grab for cash type sequel to Battlefront and KotOR which runs the risk of tainting the franchise, or leave it be and enjoy those classic games for what they are? If we look at the damage caused by returning to a franchise the likes of Medal of Honour and Resident Evil come to mind. Once great games that are now tainted and associated with the words 'bland', 'tedious', 'generic', but most importantly; nowhere near to their far superior predecessors. I for one would rather not have seen money and time wasted on such sequels and would have preferred to be content with the memories of vastly superior originals.

Pushtrak · 07-05-2013 1:34am

Falthyron wrote: »

Also, much of BioWare has changed since the original KotOR as they have lost many of the designers, writers and developers once connected with that title. If their efforts with SWTOR are anything to go by, a return to that universe has me a little more skeptical.

BioWare have a number of different teams. They had one that did, say KOTOR, a different one did Jade Empire, Sonic DS, Dragon Age. As for SWTOR, I believe it was a Austin, Texas studio that did that, not one in Canada.

Falthyron · 07-05-2013 1:44am

Pushtrak wrote: »

BioWare have a number of different teams. They had one that did, say KOTOR, a different one did Jade Empire, Sonic DS, Dragon Age. As for SWTOR, I believe it was a Austin, Texas studio that did that, not one in Canada.

Yes, but SWTOR was long in development before EA acquired BioWare. In fact, I remember one of the reasons EA wanted to buy BioWare was because of an up and coming MMO with a lot of potential - that turned out to be SWTOR. I know they have multiple teams, but BioWare had a pretty excellent track record and this was for numerous games and teams. They had consistency and developers, writers, designers, all moved around depending on the project's needs. For example: Bethesda recently announced they have stopped any further development for Skyrim as the team has moved on to their next biggest project (probably Fallout 4 or the next TES game).

One example of a big loss to BioWare was this guy who was a key writer for many of BioWare's games: Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and the first two Mass Effects. He left the company in 2012.

BioWare aren't what they used to be, however I do hope and wish Dragon Age 3 will be a great game, but I am not holding my breath.

jill_valentine · 07-05-2013 1:47am

As much as I despise EA, and as furiously resistant as I am to their strategy generally, frankly, if this results in a Battlefront 3 with ship to ship boarding actions, they can have my kidneys and all.

Pushtrak · 07-05-2013 1:56am

Falthyron wrote: »

Yes, but SWTOR was long in development before EA acquired BioWare. In fact, I remember one of the reasons EA wanted to buy BioWare was because of an up and coming MMO with a lot of potential - that turned out to be SWTOR.

Which was primarily a Austin, Texas game, not Edmonton where the main staff base are. I'm really not seeing the connection of SWTOR as anything to base the quality of a hypothetical KOTOR 3. It really doesn't have a connection.

Bethesda recently announced they have stopped any further development for Skyrim as the team has moved on to their next biggest project (probably Fallout 4 or the next TES game).

Probably both, actually.

One example of a big loss to BioWare was this guy who was a key writer for many of BioWare's games: Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and the first two Mass Effects. He left the company in 2012.

Yeah, I knew about that. This, though is a studio that places its priorities in writing in terms of its hiring.

BioWare aren't what they used to be, however I do hope and wish Dragon Age 3 will be a great game, but I am not holding my breath.

I hope it will be a great game, too. I loved DA:O and Awakening. Heck, the story in Awakening was probably better than DA:O itself though obviously you can't really appreciate it in isolation. To me, DA 2 felt like a poor expansion to DA rather than a good game.

titan18 · 07-05-2013 2:04am

I'd rather EA than nothing tbh. At least now there's hope of a Battlefront sequel, even it's slim. KOTOR sequel would be cool, but I'd prefer a Battlefront one.

Kiith · 07-05-2013 2:25am

Falthyron wrote: »

If their efforts with SWTOR are anything to go by, a return to that universe has me a little more skeptical.

To be fair though, while there were many many problems with TOR, the writing was at times very good. There were some great storylines and quests, and i'd be delighted to see more of that make it into a new KOTOR.

K.O.Kiki · 07-05-2013 4:19am

D wrote: »

Just came here to post this.

As others have said already, goodbye to games on steam.
Some of my favourite games have been Lucasarts titles, from Point and click to dark forces and tie fighter et al.
Feel down about it.

Goodbye, LucasArts.

I will miss you and your new adventures.

Because F**K Origin.

Kiith · 07-05-2013 6:57am

They've already said the first game will be in Frostbite 3, so definitely won't be on the WiiU.

ConFurioso · 07-05-2013 9:13am

Kiith wrote: »

To be fair though, while there were many many problems with TOR, the writing was at times very good. There were some great storylines and quests, and i'd be delighted to see more of that make it into a new KOTOR.

....or put into rebuilding the mess that was the ending of KOTOR 2 :pac:

But still.....a brand new lovely KOTOR would be a welcome game if done properly, with focus on story.

Grumpypants · 07-05-2013 10:57am

Falthyron wrote: »

But do you want Battlefront as proposed by Free Radical (Leaked Footage) or do you want Battlefield with Star Wars window-dressing? Also, much of BioWare has changed since the original KotOR as they have lost many of the designers, writers and developers once connected with that title. If their efforts with SWTOR are anything to go by, a return to that universe has me a little more skeptical.
.

Do I want a Battlefield style game with 64 player maps with Snow speeders and At-At's in the place of tanks and helicopters? yes please.

Forget about the idiotic anti EA internet crap and look at who is going to be working on the games.
Visceral who made Dead Space
Bioware who made Mass Effect and KOTOR
DICE who make Battlefield.

They are solid studios who make solid games with track records for Sc-Fi & FPS, using a solid engine.

Falthyron · 07-05-2013 1:25pm

Grumpypants wrote: »

Do I want a Battlefield style game with 64 player maps with Snow speeders and At-At's in the place of tanks and helicopters? yes please.

Forget about the idiotic anti EA internet crap and look at who is going to be working on the games.
Visceral who made Dead Space
Bioware who made Mass Effect and KOTOR
DICE who make Battlefield.

They are solid studios who make solid games with track records for Sc-Fi & FPS, using a solid engine.

While I do agree with your idea of 64 player maps with snow speeders and AT-ATs, I am looking at who is going to be working on the games.

BioWare are not made up of the same guys who brought us Neverwinter Nights, KotOR, and Mass Effect. Many of them have left, and key personnel as well, not just your average artist. They have also taken on a lot of personnel from studios that have been closed down. For example: BioWare Victory (who are making the next CnC), mostly consists of EA LA. The same guys who made the atrocious CnC4. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors stuff going on and the reality of the situation is that EA bought BioWare for it's name, because up until Dragon Age 2, SWTOR, and to some degree ME3, BioWare was a day-one purchase company - that is, it didn't matter what they were making you knew it was going to be excellent because it was BioWare. And transforming your RTS franchise development team to a BioWare label clearly demonstrates EAs aim to exhaust the name as much as possible.

In terms of DICE, yeah they tend to be a solid team, however I have two issues with them and Battlefront III. Firstly, DICEs released of Battlefield 3 was a bit of a mess. The single player campaign was a total write-off lacking substance and any glimmer of interest. And the multiplayer was filled with bugs and problems. Such problems persisted for months and while they were busy making expansion packs, very little was done to fix the known issues. Secondly, they are not Free Radical. Battlefront II had a very unique, fun, crazy, feel to it. A sort of cartoony battlefield in space, but it was solid. I just don't think we will get the game we want from Free Radical. Instead it will be Battlefield 2142 wrapped in a Star Wars blanket.

Visceral are the only ones I have some hope for. Dead Space 1 and 2 were very atmospheric, very dark, and well designed third person games. I would like to see them take on the Jedi Knight series, but I am reminded of Dead Space 3, which was very tame in comparison to it's predecessors. And we must wonder why it was so. Perhaps EA wanted to make it a more accessible game and therefore it lost the unique style and atmosphere that had made it as reputable as it once was.

I know there is a lot of EA hatred, but the people making these possible Star Wars games are not the people we know from the games that made them brilliant in the first place. BioWare do not have the same workforce they did with KotOR or NWN. Visceral have had layoffs since Dead Space 3 was not considered a commercial success, and DICE are too busy playing catch-up with Treyarch/Activision-Blizzard with the FPS genre.

I would strongly recommend Jim Sterling's interesting take on FPS games: here.

.ak · 07-05-2013 2:18pm

I'm happy about this. Sure, EA are a ****ty company regarding their product and customer care, but atleast we'll see some more SW titles developed. Not all SW titles are good btw, a lot of them stink regardless of who makes them, but EA do release good games from time to time so I'm happy.

.ak · 07-05-2013 2:19pm

Any word on level 1313 being picked up?

Pushtrak · 07-05-2013 2:31pm

No word on 1313 yet. They aren't announcing anything, yet though.

Source: http://kotaku.com/ea-snags-exclusive-deal-to-make-star-wars-games-493178983

No word yet on whether EA will do anything with the two games LucasArts was developing before the shutdown, the Boba Fett-helmed action-adventure Star Wars 1313 and the multiplayer shooter Star Wars: First Assault. We asked EA about both games. The response: "We are not announcing any specific titles at this time."

Shiminay · 07-05-2013 3:11pm

I have no great love for some of the shocking business practices of EA, but I think the Frostbite engine's really good and would have no problem seeing a Star Wars Battlefront style game rolled out in that. I am however a bit wary about Battlefield 4 being out so relatively soon after BF3 - it's got the potential to turn into CoD with it's "milk the punter" attitude. At least a lot of the bugs and balance issues have been ironed out, but these problems will just reappear with a new series of weapons, maps and vehicles.

As for Bioware - they specifically stated that SWTOR should be considered KOTOR 3, 4, 5 and 6 so don't hold your breath for any of that. As it happens, if you play SWTOR as a single player game and ignore all the "MMO" stuff in it, it's not a bad RPG, but I found the MMO stuff simply got in the way of that which is unfortunate. The new Neverwinter MMO seems to be a much better approach - instead of having a huge list of powers and abilities and combinations of things you're supposed to do to play the system as opposed to playing the game. I saw a run through of it that Total Biscuit and his wife had with the developers and it looked a lot more like something I'd like to play.

Bioware is a different company now though. With Dr's Ray and Greg no longer being at the helm, who knows where it'll go. I saw an interview with Dr Greg recently where he spoke about his time there and he was very positive about what EA offered them and the environment they were given to work in within the organisation. He specifically said that they're an organisation that will give you enough rope to hang yourself with which was certainly an interesting choice of words all things considered. He's into craft beers now and will probably never make games again he said - so we can take from that what we will.

I'm quite disappointed that 1313 won't see light of day, real shame for a project that seemed to be reasonably well along in development and had the look of something not necessarily ground breakingly new, but interesting none-the-less.

I guess we have to play the wait and see game. I'm not sure who else could have taken "Star Wars" on though - Activision? Force of Duty - Jedi Ops game every year? No thanks. Ubisoft seems to be busy churning out stuff anyway (most of which I seem to find myself enjoying tbh). 2K? They'd outsource it and bollox it up.

Square Enix and Disney Interactive are responsible for the Kingdom Hearts and Disney Interactive handles Epic Mickey. I'd imagine there's a lot of stress associated with juggling multiple developers as a publisher and it's not core to Disney business, so they figured off-loading the whole lot (or at least the bulk of it) in one go made the most financial and business sense.

Pushtrak · 07-05-2013 3:34pm

Shiminay wrote: »

As for Bioware - they specifically stated that SWTOR should be considered KOTOR 3, 4, 5 and 6 so don't hold your breath for any of that.

In fairness, that was said at a time where it wasn't exactly foreseeable that they'd get the chance to make another Star Wars game.

As it happens, if you play SWTOR as a single player game and ignore all the "MMO" stuff in it, it's not a bad RPG, but I found the MMO stuff simply got in the way of that which is unfortunate.

I haven't tried this. I'm not the MMO type.

I'm quite disappointed that 1313 won't see light of day, real shame for a project that seemed to be reasonably well along in development and had the look of something not necessarily ground breakingly new, but interesting none-the-less.

You're probably wise to not expect it, but it isn't out of the question that they could continue on the game. Though, that said, it isn't out of the question the game could go back to the drawing board, for good or ill.

Falthyron · 07-05-2013 3:38pm

Shiminay wrote: »

As for Bioware - they specifically stated that SWTOR should be considered KOTOR 3, 4, 5 and 6 so don't hold your breath for any of that. As it happens, if you play SWTOR as a single player game and ignore all the "MMO" stuff in it, it's not a bad RPG, but I found the MMO stuff simply got in the way of that which is unfortunate. The new Neverwinter MMO seems to be a much better approach - instead of having a huge list of powers and abilities and combinations of things you're supposed to do to play the system as opposed to playing the game. I saw a run through of it that Total Biscuit and his wife had with the developers and it looked a lot more like something I'd like to play.

Interesting that you mentioned that. I heard a rumour around the time of the great decline in SWTOR subscriptions (roughly March 2012), that if SWTOR was to fail outright, there was a contingency plan. The plan involved ending the MMO aspect, taking the servers offline, and re-releasing the game as a single player RPG, even on consoles. As you said yourself, the game could be a good RPG if the MMO stuff was removed. I guess F2P and micro-transactions have avoided that particular scenario.

BizzyC · 07-05-2013 3:39pm

I'm happy enough with the news tbh.

I never trusted Disney to do anything decent with the rights.
At least EA have the ability to make the odd good game.

Jim · 07-05-2013 4:59pm

Shiminay wrote: »

I am however a bit wary about Battlefield 4 being out so relatively soon after BF3 - it's got the potential to turn into CoD with it's "milk the punter" attitude.

What is long enough between games? This is actually a pretty common misconception about the Battlefield franchise. Removing all the smaller titles and DLC and just going on main games;

2002 Battlefield 1942
2004 Battlefield Vietnam
2005 Battlefield 2
2006 Battlefield 2142
2008 Battlefield: Bad Company
2010 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
2011 Battlefield 3
2013 Battlefield 4

Two years is pretty standard, with some only having one year between games. If the fear that two years is too short and they might try to "milk the punter" then they've been doing it already for the last 10 years.

Shiminay · 07-05-2013 5:16pm

You know what, you're absolutely right Jim, that's a massive mistake on my part. I was only thinking of the gap between BF2 and BF3 mostly cause I tried playing the Bad Company games and thought that not being able to change the control layout on the XBox was an unforgivable oversight. So I have chalked them up as being awful as a result.

Probably unfair, but it's a flooded market place and I'm not interested in wasting my time on what is an inferior experience for me when I can have a more enjoyable one elsewhere. It was the final nail in the coffin for competitive gaming on a console for me too.

I have really enjoyed BF3 and the Premium stuff's been a nice addition, but again that's the sort of content that would have been delivered for free several years ago. I don't mind the progression to these "season pass" methods of getting extra content, I just wish that community driven mods were available too. The Dice guys have said that Frostbite will never have mod tools as it's not built to support them and it's not feasible to release their internal toolkit. Looking at Steam's Workshop as an example of how it could be done better, there's an opportunity for both publisher and content maker to share the rewards - they just had a CS:GO map pack for sale and quite cleverly phrased it as "give something back to these map makers for creating such great stuff for us all" but I'm sure they're also getting a percentage of the sale. All it took was their community manager doing his job and spotting a good opportunity to make everyone happy.

But that's taking us wildly off topic - my apologies. Thanks for pointing out my mistake Jim, it was bad form of me to make that jump.

EA acquires Star Wars license from Disney

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