Electronic Arts Signs Exclusive Star Wars Game Deal With Disney

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

My expectations and hopes are lowered but not destroyed. Ea and the developers under them have had a few cock-ups but they release some solid games. I'll keep some hope but not much.

 

[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.

What standards would you prefer?
SEGA/Gearbox standards - buggy game that doesn't match up to expectations

Agreed.

Valve Standards - Multiplayer only. Games never released

What about Half Life 1 & 2 + the episodes, and the Portal games? Regardless of your personal opinion on them, they clearly are one of the best at single-player storytelling. Also, A Jedi Knight-like multiplayer game with tradable hats sounds good right now.

Epic Standards - Nice third person action but no story worth giving two shits about.

Agreed.

Some of the other places like Activision/Ubisoft whatever have always online DRM or auction houses and that sort of nonsense as well.

Agreed.

What about 2K or Square Enix? They seem to be on the right path recently. 2K released Bioshock Infinite and Squeenix did a nice job reviving the Eidos properties.

The only standard that I know is that EA will throw a huge pile of money at it. They've done good games and bad games. On which side of the line it will fall remains to be seen

They might do something good with it, but the fact that the contract is EXCLUSIVE to EA is the problem. This means that nobody else will get a chance at a Star Wars game anytime soon.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

*pauses and thinks to self*

Something weird is happening... I'm... not breaking out into a rage.

My gosh... I finally did it... I LET GO OF BEING A STAR WARS NERD! I'M MERELY HOPEFUL THAT VISCERAL AND DICE PRODUCE FUN GAMES! It's finally happened! I AM SO HAPPY!

*glances at everyone raging while he frankly doesn't give a crap at this point*

...*sigh* that lasted a long time now didn't it?

Frankly I find that sad. To have lost you passion for a thing you liked. I pity you, friend.

Normally I would but I've pretty much been fed-up with the bullshit in Star Wars back when Dave Fiolini's hat first came into view. Yes, some things have improved, but it's a bit too little, too late. Maybe the new trilogy will interest me, but the EU is a mess now more than ever, and while I'll sure as hell be interested in the games, I won't be playing them for the sake of it being Star Wars like I used to.

I'm done being a fanboy. It doesn't pay well and I sounded like those raving lunatics who couldn't stand the idea of an XCOM first person game (even though it was actually closer to the original XCOM in the game design than Enemy Unknown) whenever canon gets brought up.

 

[Mahoshonen]

I doubt EA is going to revive the X-Wing/TIE Fighter franchise, I definitely see Battlefront 3 (and 4, 5, 6, etc) getting a look at.

But yeah, not really excited. I'm also completely exhausted when it comes to being mad about this series gong in a bad direction, so I honestly can't work myself up to being angry.

 

[sumanoskae]

Could they possibly have picked a worse company than E fucking A?

I suppose my hope that Obsidian will make KOTOR III are out the window, then.

EA have been making poor decision after poor decision, I sure as hell don't trust them with Star Wars.

 

[unstabLized]

Last time I bought from EA (being the publisher) was Battlefield 3. It was a good enough game, fun with friends, worth the price. Then came Premium. Fine, bought into it because still, fun with friends. Then "Premium Editon" came out with the same price tag as the original release. Obviously everyone who had premium from before basically raged, but it was understandable. It was sort of like the "GOTY" edition of Battlefield 3. Fine, no big deal. At least the game was good. That being said, I don't necessarily congratulate EA for it, but DICE instead. They had enough time and resources to make a good enough game. Battlefront 3 is right up DICE's alley. If they dont get completely shoved down the throat with EA's stupid-ass timelines and horrible handlings, they can release a good game. But, on the other hand, this is EA. Killer of franchises and developers, and owner of the most God forsaken PR department that I've ever seen. I don't know how I feel about this. There is still some hope and potential, because we don't know what's going on in those buildings. Gotta wait for trailers and some gameplay. One thing's for sure though, I am not getting Battlefield 4. It looked like someone literally Ctrl + C'd the plans for Battlefield 3 and Ctrl + V'd it into Battlefield 4's. I wonder if Battlefield 5 is planned for 2014/2015 after EA releases "Super premium limited editions" of Battlefield 4. So to me, I added Battlefield to Need for Speed, Crysis, and Sim City, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and C&C as the list of franchises that just dropped downhill and basically died under EA. Long list isn't it? Not much hope for Star Wars if I go by EA's track record, but I have some faith in the developers. Still, it's not hard to imagine scenarios while a franchise is under EA... The microtransactions.. Oh God the microtransactions.. *weeps*..

Hey, at least it's not Gearbox.. Right?.. Right? Guys?

 

[Zer_]

Wow, glad to see no one is throwing about any knee-jerk reactions here. Yes, EA has pulled some stupid s*** in the past couple of years, but let's think about the studios that they're handing the franchise off to, and what games will be handled by them.

We have DICE, which is the obvious contender to develop Battlefront 3. As someone who absolutely loved the early BF games, and Battlefield 3, I'm not too concerned about them getting their hands on the Battlefront IP. We're not going to see a super gritty, color drained Battlefront game, as Battlefield is that way simply because it's stylized, and that's the direction they're taking it in. There's a lot to learn from the style and color pallets of Battlefront 1 & 2, and I'm sure that DICE will realize this when/if they begin development. Also, they would be the most likely of the three studios to develop sequels to Republic Commando.

Visceral could easily also pick up Republic Commando, but I really see them picking up StarWars 1313 where it left off. The seedy underbelly vibe of the game fits with the darker themes of the Dead Space franchise, and their experience with 3rd Person shooter mechanics is the strongest of the three teams. What new games would come out of Visceral, I'm not sure. There are a lot of space combat games that are desperately crying out for sequels, but whether they would be picked up by Visceral who, as a studio is still in its infancy and not locked into a specific genre of video games, or by DICE who will have to have some experience under their belt with space combat to make a true sequel to BF2, is uncertain.

Bioware is arguably the most confusing of the three in terms of where their projects will take them. We'll probably see some KoToR-esque sequels to past franchises out of them, alongside continued development of The Old Republic until they run that into the ground. I'm unsure what new IP's will come out of their studios, as all I've ever known them for is Action-RPG's, but they definitely have the talent (at least outside of the writing department), to develop various types of titles.

All in all, we're talking about three well received (for the most part) studios with a bit of a troubled past in some regard, but all more than willing to handle new and old IP's within the Star Wars universe.

TL;DR: Let's put those torches and pitchforks on layaway until we see some actual product.

This, so much this. If anyone can do a great Battlefront game, it's DICE. The only thing that really does worry me is how DRM will be handled.

 

[Zer_]

EDIT: Whoops misquoted someone. And I forgot who I was responding to. Oh well!

I wouldn't call BF3 "dumbed down." People always rant about the lack of commander mode and voice comms. I agree with them on the voice comms, but I never saw any real benefit to having a commander beyond the experimental novelty that it was. In exchange for those two missing features we got vastly improved gunplay, much tighter controls and destructible environments (albeit to a limited degree when compared to BFBC2).

 

[Mr F.]

>.>

Battlefront and whatnot. No problem for me here. Only issue is origin, which does not work on campus.

 

[Darren716]

Well there goes my hope for Battlefront 3 being decent, knowing EA they will turn it into Battle Field 3 with a Star Wars skin or a CoD clone in order to capitalize on the modern military shooter craze instead of trying to please the fans. Fuck this noise.

 

[Gitty101]

Well, I'm sure my fellow escapists are rational human beings who won't have the usual knee-jerk reactions of the interne-

Oh. They did.

Nobody actually going to wait and see what will be on offer before outright dismissing it?

 

[Saviordd1]

Also Andy, don't ever use that picture again.

Am I the only one who didn't mind that edit?

Like the new movies or not, they are part of the canon, and it makes sense for Anakins ghost to...well look like anakin.

OT: Well, those are good devs, but how bad is EA gonna fuck those games up with micro transactions?

Except they were supposed to look how Luke saw them, or how they actually looked at the time they died (Why doesn't old ben look like young ben if this isn't the case?). Then again guessing by that avatar, little details aren't really all that important to you anyway.

OT: Yep, this falls in line pretty much with my expectations. Maybe Disney will wise up at some point.

Condescend much?

But please, tell me the part in the movies where it says "Luke, when you see the ghosts, you will see them how you imagine them" because otherwise its head canon or EU canon which is flimsy, at best.

Going by your logic my explanation of "He reverts back to his good self" is just as valid.

 

[Naqel]

I wasn't really planning on buying any of the hypothetical starwars games, but now there's nothing that could convince me otherwise.

It also shows where the series is headed under new management, and it is a sad place indeed.

 

[Doom972]

They might do something good with it, but the fact that the contract is EXCLUSIVE to EA is the problem. This means that nobody else will get a chance at a Star Wars game anytime soon.

I don't actually find that a bad thing. The direction that Star Wars games have taken recently to me does not reflect the movies I grew up with. Like the grossly overpowered, superhero warriors that Jedi are now represented as for example. Again what happened to "Guardians of Peace". A lot of the movies seem to portray them more as Agents of Destruction and Death. And part of that problem is the prequel movies which frankly ruined a lot of the mythos. So games now build off the new mythos, which is shit.

How is exclusivity over the franchise to one publisher a good thing? Why would you prefer that only EA would get to make Star Wars games?

 

[darkwolf217]

I thought most people would consider the idea that Bioware, Visceral, and Dice might make a Star Wars game a good thing but This thread has been mostly griping about EA's various issues. Maybe EA has influenced games in the past and not for the better. Whatever.

I remember the fun I had with the old battlefield games. I remember the feeling of fighting necromorphs alone in the dark. I remember the sheer number of hours I sunk into Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Knights of the Old Republic. So I'm willing to play whatever these three studios put out. Bad blood or not I'm gonna take my Star Wars themed blessings where I can get them.

So how about it internet? Put away the drama queen attitude and quit whining about EA long enough to see what these developers make. After that, you can get back to complaining.

Until then I'm gonna be putting my Republic Commando 2 altar back together