Electronic Arts Signs Exclusive Star Wars Game Deal With Disney

[Pedro The Hutt]

The monopoly is threatened, panic! only the mighty Valvelords are allowed to have exclusives!
Seriously, why is "not on Steam" suddenly treated like a horrible thing? No one complains about Valve games not being on Impulse last time I checked.

You know, you could respond to things without sounding like an enormous prat about it. And I did mention Green Man Gaming in my post, and I could've listed other distribution services too, so selectively omitting parts of a sentence when quoting someone isn't very good journalism, or very sportsmanlike. And if you're wondering, I consider having a multitude of digital retailers to be able to buy games from a good thing, so I'd be no more happy with an absolute monopoly of Steam than I'd be with a Origin or (pretty unthinkable) GOG monopoly.

And you can't deny that EA has a lengthy history of bad business practices, including some of those on Origin, most of which have been documented in the news posts on this very website... so don't try and belittle me over something that actually bothers a good portion of the gaming community, or twist the facts like omitting that the Steam survey scan is an entirely optional part of the program that no user is forced to participate in.

 

[kingthrall]

All I keep thinking off is EA's Emperor*ehem* C.O smiling like they got the final piece to their deathstar. Something like this below, keeps me laughing so much.

 

[Jaythulhu]

If DICE bring Battlefield 3 to the table and it's good, I don't care what's done with the rest of the franchise.

 

[Ishigami]

I'm looking forward to this.
DICE seems like a good choice to get a decent team based shooter out. I couldn't give a fuck about Battefront but some people seem to have liked it...
Visceral could pick up SW1313. They have experience with this sort of game. I didn't like the more action based route Dead Space took but that could be alright for SW1313.
BioWare sticking to SWTOR is alright with me as well. I have a lot of fun with it atm.
Though I would like to see another SP RPG done.

 

[major_chaos]

You know, you could respond to things without sounding like an enormous prat about it.

The Anti-EA crowd never bothered, why should I?

And I did mention Green Man Gaming in my post,

Which means very little when the only time I ever hear people mention, let alone praise that site, is when you can buy there and, you guessed it, activate on Steam.

and I could've listed other distribution services too

Who? GoG is a different beast entirely, same with Desura, Gamersgate is rather niche and not very popular, and I'm going to hazard a guess that you hate Impulse almost as much as Origin due to the gamestop connection.

so selectively omitting parts of a sentence when quoting someone isn't very good journalism,

Quick aside: "good journalism"? no. A favorite tactic of journalists? very much so.

And if you're wondering, I consider having a multitude of digital retailers to be able to buy games from a good thing, so I'd be no more happy with an absolute monopoly of Steam than I'd be with a Origin or (pretty unthinkable) GOG monopoly.

Then why is it that "no Steam, No sale" is practically this site's catchphrase anymore?

And you can't deny that EA has a lengthy history of bad business practices, including some of those on Origin,

EA has a history of doing mildly inconvenient stupid things and having the worst PR department ever, causing the internet to fly into a frenzy and label them the demonic spawn of Satan and Bernie Madoff.

most of which have been documented in the news posts on this very website...

Escapist "news" tends to be as biased and flame baiting as possible without full on lying.

so don't try and belittle me over something that actually bothers a good portion of the gaming community

"good portion" here meaning "a small vocal minority on some forums" based on the sales numbers EA still rakes in.

or twist the facts like omitting that the Steam survey scan is an entirely optional part of the program that no user is forced to participate in.

Then how about you don't omit that
A. Origin is not nearly as intrusive as the mass panic made it out to be.
B. Sure the Steam survey is optional. it just bugs you about it every so often. and does its best to mask the fact that it scrapes every byte of information they can get away with and doesn't mention it till the very end. (really, valve, every single program I have installed? I can think of several uses for that and non of them are nice.)

 

[Bernzz]

I'd be more upset by this if there hadn't been a solid Star Wars game since X-Wing and Dark Forces and all of that. The games focused entirely on Jedi/Sith just don't do it for me. There is a lot more to Star Wars than that stuff. I'd kill for a game without a single lightsaber in it.

What about Republic Commando? At one point on a (mostly) abandoned Republic Ship, your Clone character can find a lightsaber in a vent beside a dead clone. He makes the comment, "An elegant weapon for a more civilised time, eh? Well, guess what? Times have changed."

OT: Add to the usual chorus of "Noooo" and all that. I've wanted Battlefront 3 for years, but I'm terrified to see what EA will do to it.

 

[sumanoskae]

So I assume this means Obsidian's proposed Star Wars game isn't happening.

Damn...

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[MrBenSampson]

I actually just hope that they create Kinect 2.0 shovelware. I don't want to see Battlefront 3 as an Origin exclusive. The console version would likely be butchered for DLC, filled with microtransactions and sold with an online-pass.

 

[GAunderrated]

The monopoly is threatened, panic! only the mighty Valvelords are allowed to have exclusives!
Seriously, why is "not on Steam" suddenly treated like a horrible thing? No one complains about Valve games not being on Impulse last time I checked.

You know, you could respond to things without sounding like an enormous prat about it. And I did mention Green Man Gaming in my post, and I could've listed other distribution services too, so selectively omitting parts of a sentence when quoting someone isn't very good journalism, or very sportsmanlike. And if you're wondering, I consider having a multitude of digital retailers to be able to buy games from a good thing, so I'd be no more happy with an absolute monopoly of Steam than I'd be with a Origin or (pretty unthinkable) GOG monopoly.

And you can't deny that EA has a lengthy history of bad business practices, including some of those on Origin, most of which have been documented in the news posts on this very website... so don't try and belittle me over something that actually bothers a good portion of the gaming community, or twist the facts like omitting that the Steam survey scan is an entirely optional part of the program that no user is forced to participate in.

On a slight deviation of your post I used to exclusively purchase my games on steam. When Origin started their whole "exclusive games only on origin" for ME3, BF3, Simcity, and whatever EA game I am forgetting about they just lost a sale from me and I moved on from those games.

However, GreenManGaming and Amazon have been stealing sales from steam this past year by having better deals. They didn't need to buy exclusivity and try and handcuff me to use their crap systems, they just needed to have a better deal/service and boom they have my money.

I love steam but I've noticed that their sales recently have been very lax (last x-mas sale was dreadful) and its nice to see some competition for steam through Amazon, GOG, and GMG. They are doing competition right while Origin is doing it all wrong much like all EA's decisions the past 2 years.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I, for one, will be holding no prejudices, and judging the game on its merits when we have more concrete details.

[sub][sub][sub]But I secretly know it's gonna be shit. 0_0[/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[Silly Hats]

I came here for the sadness and rage. And was not disappointed. Good show everyone!

Basically this.

Honestly, why are you all surprised? Either you were going to ignore the franchise or knowingly purchase the games just to get pissed off. This is such a waste of energy, yes it sucks but just get on with ignoring it.

 

[Zac Jovanovic]

One step forward, shut down Lucas Arts.
Two steps back, sell exclusive rights to EA.

 

[Doom972]

Why not just resurrect LJN and let them have the contract? If you're going to be evil and greedy go all the way.

Seriously people wait for the flippin games to be released before you put on your drama queen dress.

Isn't everyone always bitching for a new Star Wars Battlefront? And the guys who make Battlefield are gonna be making Star Wars games?

The problem is that as long as this contract is valid, only EA will be able to make Star Wars games. We already know what EA's standard's are.

 

[Nazulu]

I wonder if they're going to try and use this franchise to compete with COD now.

I'm with the crowd that believes they should be trying for new franchises.

 

[Easton Dark]

I actually just hope that they create Kinect 2.0 shovelware. I don't want to see Battlefront 3 as an Origin exclusive. The console version would likely be butchered for DLC, filled with microtransactions and sold with an online-pass.

You know what, I do too. Bring on the kinect games. I don't want to live in a world where Battlefront 3 is ruined by anti-consumer company practices.

 

[Nightwolf214]

Is it just me or is everyone overreacting too soon? I mean, I hate EA as much as the next guy, and Star Wars is my favorite sci-fi franchise of all time, ever; but everyone seems to be forgetting that the Star Wars gaming franchise was fading away in recent years (not saying any of the recent releases were bad quality, they were all great, but they were few and far between).

I mean look at the upsides, you now have quality studios to work on NEW Star Wars games (BioWare, DICE, Visceral, etc).

There's plenty of money for funding new releases often (especially picking up titles that were 'cancelled' when Disney canned them recently (i.e. that one XBLA/PSN game that was barely mentioned, and 1313)

And there's the potential to pick up some of the best/most annoying cliff-hung (past tense cliff-hanging) franchises, and give them some resolution (Republic Commando, The Force Unleashed (they were two great games, shut your faces), and Battlefront 3, among others).

And for my final point (on the upside of things), THERE'S PLENTY OF CONTENT TO WORK WITH. THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

Everyone needs to stop being such drama queens, we haven't even seen any of their plans, so don't panic. Yet.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Yeah, considering the quality of EA's recent releases were at best on par of LucasArts final dying gasps I'm not that enthused by this development.

 

[the darknees abyss]

Damn it EA just stop ok.
why Disney why?

 

[likalaruku]

I don't hate EA, but I have detested Disney for over a decade. With our hated combined, this could be Captain Awful.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Oh, God Dammit (exclaimed I...I think the neighborhood heard me)

Alright, alright, I'll just wait and see what ends up being announced...No reason to get upset yet...although I have a sinking feeling that whatever comes to the Wii U will be atrophied versions of what the other consoles and PCs get while EA chides, "Oh, you want the better version of the game? Well then chose the one that supported Origin." or something along those lines.

Also it would be nice to have a new Knights of the Old Republic made by Bioware...provided it's made using the same RPG mechanics ie: everything is decided via 'dice roll'.