Disney Abandons Star Wars 1313 Trademark

[Josh Engen]

Disney Abandons Star Wars 1313 Trademark

Disney has chosen not to renew the Star Wars 1313 trademark. All hope is lost.

Even after Disney Electronic Arts took over [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123055-Disney-Closes-LucasArts] the Star Wars franchise, the chances of Star Wars 1313 being resurrected practically disintegrated. And just before Christmas, Disney failed to renew the title's trademark, which officially asphyxiates any remaining hope.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office currently classifies Star Wars 1313 as "Abandoned because no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued."

Obviously, Disney and EA could revive the trademark, but the fact that they let it expire proves that the game isn't on the radar. Last June, EA teased a brand new Battlefront sequel, which is scheduled to hit the market in 2015, and the publisher is already handling Star Wars: The Old Republic. So, it's probably safe to assume that EA isn't going to throw 1313 back into the mix.

After Star Wars 1313 was canceled, details about the game slowly started leaking out of Disney's bunker. In September, the folks at IGN got their hands on a 15-minute demo [http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/25/star-wars-1313-boba-fett-concept-art-and-story-details] that had been prepared for E3 before Disney shelved the project. Surprisingly, the demo revolved around everyone's favorite bounty hunter: Boba Fett.

The fact that Fett would have been the star of 1313 makes its cancelation even more painful. Hopefully EA's Battlefront sequel will fill the void when it's finally released. Though, if Battlefield 4 has taught us anything, it's that EA knows how to turn a brilliant game into a gigantic train wreck.

Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office [http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85613835&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch]

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[gigastar]

Ah well, knowing LucasArts by their more recent works they probably would have botched it somehow.

Though, if Battlefield 4 has taught us anything, it's that EA knows how to turn a brilliant game into a gigantic train wreck.

Fixed.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

The linked IGN article stated that they couldn't show us the actual 15 minutes of gameplay "YET". Now that the trademark has expired you think that footage will appear on the internet? One can hope, if only to make us more disappointed.

 

[vxicepickxv]

It took Battlefield 4 to teach you about that? They started earlier than that. Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 were also clues, plus Simcity patch 10.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

It makes me sad hearing this because I'm a huge Mandalorian/Fett fan and knowing Disney's decision to not continue 1313 means that it's trashed in a place where no one else can pick up the idea because Disney now owns all of Star Wars and gave the rights to EA, so who's ever going to want to restore that concept when Disney and EA have the power?.

 

[an annoyed writer]

It makes me sad hearing this because I'm a huge Mandalorian/Fett fan and knowing Disney's decision to not continue 1313 means that it's trashed in a place where no one else can pick up the idea because Disney now owns all of Star Wars and gave the rights to EA, so who's ever going to want to restore that concept when Disney and EA have the power?.

Agreed. This whole thing just makes me depressed. If EA did this one, you can bet your ass they'd mystically find some way to botch it as they've done to so many other acquired franchises. Disney probably would've wanted it to be TOO kid-friendly, as opposed to the mature cyberpunk-noir tone that they seem to have been going for.

 

[Rawbeard]

Disney has no interest in making a game about the most incompetent bounty hunter, who had to be reminded by Darth Vader himself that "I want them alive" means "no desintegrators"? Oh well, what a shame. Good guys, Disney.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Yay! Hopefully we get another game that is not based on the same cliched characters from the Star Wars Universe.

 

[Iwata]

"Though, if Battlefield 4 has taught us anything, it's that EA knows how to turn a brilliant game into a gigantic train wreck."

I don't play BF, so I'm kinda out of the loop here. What's going on with BF4? I thought it was pretty successful.

 

[Carlmike94]

I really had my hopes up for this one...

 

[faefrost]

The latest Gameinformer has a huge article on the fall of Lucasarts, including a lot of the details of 1313. After reading the article... it's dead Jim, and it was probably far more screwed up than we realized when it died. Particularly damning, apparently the developers of the game didn't find out that the game was suddenly going to be about Boba Fett, until hours before the games formal public announcement... after it had been in development for ages.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I would have been interested in this, but more for an art/curious thing than as a game. This game was supposed to be rated M, yes? I wanted to see how they would do that. I didn't want them to start throwing a bunch of profanity into the game (Star Wars has, or had, its own unique swearing) or turn the violence and sex up to level just for the sake of making it an M rated game. I wanted to see if they could make it M-rated without falling into those pitfalls. Yes, they could have the violence and the sexual themes, but more along the lines of something like The Last of Us, where the violence didn't feel like entertainment but part of life. Watching Boba Fett, or whoever, running through legions of enemies and slicing heads off again and again while laughing in the blood shower would have been a real let down. Watching Boba Fett torture someone for information, snapping the guy's neck, and then setting off a bomb or shooting his target in the head after getting what he needs, that would have been doable.

 

[Sanunes]

The latest Gameinformer has a huge article on the fall of Lucasarts, including a lot of the details of 1313. After reading the article... it's dead Jim, and it was probably far more screwed up than we realized when it died. Particularly damning, apparently the developers of the game didn't find out that the game was suddenly going to be about Boba Fett, until hours before the games formal public announcement... after it had been in development for ages.

Yeah, I have heard similar stories after it was cancelled as well, so it really makes you think if EA/Disney took a look at it and realized they would have had to dump everything that was created so far and start from scratch and then you risk a Duke Nukem Forever situation. Maybe it was best for us to remember what it could have been then had a major disappointment released.

 

[Goofguy]

snip

Aye, I was hoping for a gritty game set in the Star Wars universe. Playing as a bounty hunter in the seedy Coruscant underground had so much potential. It could have been what the Prey 2 trailer looked like. Too bad this thing is done for.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

And so we return to Republic Commando being the only explicitly violent Star Wars game in existence.

 

[Agente L]

This is really sad news. I was looking forward to this game. Bounty hunters are one of the best parts of SW universe.

 

[Extragorey]

Doesn't Disney dropping the trademark mean that anyone else can pick up the project now? Or am I missing something?

 

[beastro]

It makes me sad hearing this because I'm a huge Mandalorian/Fett fan and knowing Disney's decision to not continue 1313 means that it's trashed in a place where no one else can pick up the idea because Disney now owns all of Star Wars and gave the rights to EA, so who's ever going to want to restore that concept when Disney and EA have the power?.

Agreed. This whole thing just makes me depressed. If EA did this one, you can bet your ass they'd mystically find some way to botch it as they've done to so many other acquired franchises. Disney probably would've wanted it to be TOO kid-friendly, as opposed to the mature cyberpunk-noir tone that they seem to have been going for.

hell, I'm fully expecting Battlefront 3 to have Mickey, Goofy, and Donald as playable characters.


Fuck Disney and EA, Star Wars 1313 would of brought more interest into the series than any movie would, especially now that we know some details about Episode 7.


Oh well, at least SWG Emu is still going, so there is hope.

Where the fuck is this hate coming from?

I'm hardly a lover of Disney or EA, but shouldn't your hostility to reserved for the person to started all of this and could have prevented it, George Lucas?

Disney and EA are just doing what they want with new property, they don't hold it sacred like you do, or how a creator would/should?

Go further and why are you pissed off at anyone doing what they want with their property, period? It's not their fault you got attached to someone else's work that they can sell and change at their whim. While I loath Lucas's later work in the franhise and the EU in general (Not that I hold the franchise in high esteem), this talk of betrayal and how Disney is screwing it up and sickeningly amusing to me.