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The Walt Disney Company and EA Announce Multi-Year Star Wars Games Agreement

Deal will bring new Star Wars games to fans across the most popular gaming genres and platforms

BURBANK & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.

Under the agreement, 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.

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” said John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive. “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.”

“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. “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.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Official link

Archsorcerer

I revived the previous thread. Oops. :oops:

reVerse

Here's a winning idea: instead of making a mediocre Medal of Honor game after another, make a Star Wars first person shooter. It could still be mediocre, but it'll sell better.

SemiHollowCarrot

I'm still trying to figure out just exactly how I feel about this. :-/

TehSpectre

Visceral should adapt this:

Buttcleft

Battlefield 4: Hoth?

BlindPsychic

If you thought the sun was bad in B3, just wait until there's a map on tatooine

Xeddicus

The only upside to this is the impossible possibility of KOTOR 3. Since they killed that with the MMO I'll believe this is good news when it happens.

SemiHollowCarrot

I think Obsidian has been nudging EA to let them make another KOTOR.

NEO|Phyte

So, I don't follow game dev stuff, what stuff has DICE and Visceral made? Are they considered good studios or meh studios?

reVerse

DICE is Battlefield and Visceral is Dead Space. Their latest have been pretty meh, but they done good stuff in the past.

Xeddicus

Battelfield/Mirror's Edge/Dead Space. So they CAN make good games. But EA probably won't let them with Star Wars.

Bah, beated.

Ov3rcharge

I look forward to RPG's and horror games that devolve into generic third person shooters by their 2nd/3rd iterations based in the Star Wars universe. Long live EA

Skull2185

NEO|Phyte wrote: »

So, I don't follow game dev stuff, what stuff has DICE and Visceral made? Are they considered good studios or meh studios?

DICE does Battlefield, and Visceral does Dead Space (also Dante's Inferno). Both studios have a good track record.


Man, im hoping we get a SP BioWare RPG, Visceral's take on Death Troopers and Star Wars: Bad Company outta this deal.

Rakai

DICE made Mirror's Edge. Other than that nothing of interest. Visceral is basically exclusively known for Dead Space.

I just realized that this will probably put more on DICE's plate and that keeps them from making another ME so that's bad.

Henroid

I was just now musing with slash000 that this could lead to EA becoming "the Star Wars and NFL guys."

I can't get a grip on how I feel about this news. Disney certainly wasn't wasting time with this (not to suggest the deal was only conceived after Lucasarts closed, this deal was likely what influenced the closure). I just thought Disney would've stuck to licensing as deals are presented, rather than making things exclusive. Maybe they got talked into it by EA. It's the sort of inside-baseball that we'll never, ever find out about.

Xeddicus

ITT: Unreasonable hope and people's review of games by omission.

Blendtec

I think Bioware is doing ToR stuff, given the "continue" in there.

I'd love to see a DICE Republic Commando 2 and a Visceral game about bounty hunters or something. I never got all the love for Death Troopers.

Rakai

Henroid wrote: »

I was just now musing with slash000 that this could lead to EA becoming "the Star Wars and NFL guys."

I can't get a grip on how I feel about this news. Disney certainly wasn't wasting time with this (not to suggest the deal was only conceived after Lucasarts closed, this deal was likely what influenced the closure). I just thought Disney would've stuck to licensing as deals are presented, rather than making things exclusive. Maybe they got talked into it by EA. It's the sort of inside-baseball that we'll never, ever find out about.

Rumors were that Disney wasn't having many suitors line up for the license and it's understandably why. If you're a big name there's typically more money to be made on an IP you own and if you're a small name the license is way too costly to be worth the risk.

Renzo

No need to muck up a perfectly questionable licensing deal with the addition of zombies.

TychoCelchuuu

So now we get our TIE Fighter/Wing Commander crossover, right?

Ninja Snarl P

Welp, this sucks balls. Gonna be great having any new Star Wars game locked into the completely shit-tastic Origin service..

Ah well, at least it saves me the trouble of wondering if I'll be buying any of them.

Henroid

Rakai wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

I was just now musing with slash000 that this could lead to EA becoming "the Star Wars and NFL guys."

I can't get a grip on how I feel about this news. Disney certainly wasn't wasting time with this (not to suggest the deal was only conceived after Lucasarts closed, this deal was likely what influenced the closure). I just thought Disney would've stuck to licensing as deals are presented, rather than making things exclusive. Maybe they got talked into it by EA. It's the sort of inside-baseball that we'll never, ever find out about.

Rumors were that Disney wasn't having many suitors line up for the license and it's understandably why. If you're a big name there's typically more money to be made on an IP you own and if you're a small name the license is way too costly to be worth the risk.

Good point. I guess when you have a big ol' franchise you have to decide if you want big-players-only or set the bar low.

HappylilElf

Rakai wrote: »

DICE made Mirror's Edge. Other than that nothing of interest. Visceral is basically exclusively known for Dead Space.

I just realized that this will probably put more on DICE's plate and that keeps them from making another ME so that's bad.

I think I've officially played too much Mass Effect.

I read this post and sat here confused for an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out what the fuck DICE would have to do with another Mass Effect game.

plufim

No new Star Wars games on Nintendo systems then.

AspectVoid

I've been chewing on this for a few hours since a coworker of mine passed me the news this afternoon. I've come to the conclusion that my opinion will be based on what developers EA gives the license to. EA has a lot of developers under their wing at the moment, so there is the possibility of both good and bad from this.

SemiHollowCarrot

Rakai wrote: »

Henroid wrote: »

I was just now musing with slash000 that this could lead to EA becoming "the Star Wars and NFL guys."

I can't get a grip on how I feel about this news. Disney certainly wasn't wasting time with this (not to suggest the deal was only conceived after Lucasarts closed, this deal was likely what influenced the closure). I just thought Disney would've stuck to licensing as deals are presented, rather than making things exclusive. Maybe they got talked into it by EA. It's the sort of inside-baseball that we'll never, ever find out about.

Rumors were that Disney wasn't having many suitors line up for the license and it's understandably why. If you're a big name there's typically more money to be made on an IP you own and if you're a small name the license is way too costly to be worth the risk.

I was going to post that this was an indicator of EA's overall health, and you raise up a good alternative point. EA hasn't been doing great with their original/traditional IP. Knights of the Republic, Kingdoms of Amalur, MoH, Syndicate, Secret World, Tiger Woods, Shadows of the Damned, Sim City, Dead Space 3, Bulletstorm, Mirror's Edge. They have a whole lot of under performers and complete failures in comparison to quality and good selling titles.

While I think your suggestion is probably a big factor for Disney, I think EA is really hoping to hedge the SW brand's flexibility and gamble on the brand. They could continue the KotOR series if they'd show a little competence, Battlefront III is something that people have been begging for, and EA can churn out cheap and kid friendly DS and 3DS games.

Though I wonder if Disney was having trouble courting even non exclusive license opportunities or if they simply wanted too much.

I've been chewing on this for a few hours since a coworker of mine passed me the news this afternoon. I've come to the conclusion that my opinion will be based on what developers EA gives the license to. EA has a lot of developers under their wing at the moment, so there is the possibility of both good and bad from this.

Well, I guess in a perfect world they would give KotOR to Mass Effect guys, Battlefront to the Battlefield guys (I would be interested in a Star Wars: Battlefield game), and... well. The Dead Space guys could get on an action game, and maybe a 1313 type game. I wonder if EA got that in the deal as well.

Rami

I'm sure Bioware are about to spend the next 6 years making Mass Effect reskinned into Star Wars.

And uhh, I think I'm okay with that.

SemiHollowCarrot

Movie-Video Game tie ins.

AspectVoid

SemiHollowCarrot wrote: »

AspectVoid wrote:

I've been chewing on this for a few hours since a coworker of mine passed me the news this afternoon. I've come to the conclusion that my opinion will be based on what developers EA gives the license to. EA has a lot of developers under their wing at the moment, so there is the possibility of both good and bad from this.

Well, I guess in a perfect world they would give KotOR to Mass Effect guys, Battlefront to the Battlefield guys (I would be interested in a Star Wars: Battlefield game), and... well. The Dead Space guys could get on an action game, and maybe a 1313 type game. I wonder if EA got that in the deal as well.

Oh, believe me, I would love that stuff, and it would be the obvious thing to do. I'm just not sure if EA would do that, or if they would take risks by going in a different direction. That's why I'm kind of in wait and see mode at the moment.

SemiHollowCarrot

AspectVoid wrote: »

SemiHollowCarrot wrote: »

AspectVoid wrote:

I've been chewing on this for a few hours since a coworker of mine passed me the news this afternoon. I've come to the conclusion that my opinion will be based on what developers EA gives the license to. EA has a lot of developers under their wing at the moment, so there is the possibility of both good and bad from this.

Well, I guess in a perfect world they would give KotOR to Mass Effect guys, Battlefront to the Battlefield guys (I would be interested in a Star Wars: Battlefield game), and... well. The Dead Space guys could get on an action game, and maybe a 1313 type game. I wonder if EA got that in the deal as well.

Oh, believe me, I would love that stuff, and it would be the obvious thing to do. I'm just not sure if EA would do that, or if they would take risks by going in a different direction. That's why I'm kind of in wait and see mode at the moment.

I'm banking on them half assing it.

Olivaw

A DICE Star Wars game would basically be the best thing

Because the fucking Battlefront games were like Battlefield filtered ten times into their most watered down state possible

CaptainNemo

I'm pretty okay with this.

They can't do any worse then LucasArts was already doing.

New Jedi Knight game starring Kyle Katarn please and thank you.

Or Battlefront 3: The Mandalorian Wars

Or my fucking Republic Commando sequel.

Dhalphir

Oculus Rift Jedi Knight game.

SemiHollowCarrot

I could really go for another Shadows of the Empire.

PunkBoy

I'm on a wait and see mentality. I mean yeah, "Rar rar EA", but it doesn't cost me a thing to see what comes down the pipeline before making any judgement.

mere_immortal

SemiHollowCarrot wrote: »

Movie-Video Game tie ins.

See I would love to see a Mirror's Edge esque bounty hunting FPS or a new Republic Commando but the cynic in me thinks this is what they will be.

Also we're seeing a lot more movie license games just being mobile now, although maybe Star Wars is a big enough franchise that any tie in will get a full console release.

CaptainNemo

Never really got the hate some people have for EA.

Voted worst company in America?

Over motherfucking BP and Exxon?

mere_immortal

CaptainNemo wrote: »

Never really got the hate some people have for EA.

Voted worst company in America?

Over motherfucking BP and Exxon?

The internet.

CaptainNemo

There are companies in America today that are literally paid to go and shoot people.

But man, optional microtransactions are so much worse.

HallowedFaith

Assuming that everything will be exlusive to Origin, it might not be too bad.

I however, assume most of it will be exclusive to Origin.