Though online multiplayer games are certainly more bankable than solo experiences, EA funnelling resources into Visceral only to then shutter the project four years into its development cycle is certainly not a great look. The assets to the game would be re-purposed under an internal team led by EA Vancouver, and the wording of a statement from Executive Vice President Patrick Soderlund suggested that the new vision for the game would be moving away from single-player entirely. There are few companies who could match the scale of the Star Wars license like the publisher of many of the gaming industry’s biggest hits, and when it was announced that they were bringing Battlefield developers DICE into the fold alongside Visceral and BioWare (who had plenty of prior experience with Star Wars as the creators of The Old Republic and KOTOR), things were looking hopeful.īut while Battlefront was successful (though hardly the game that Star Wars fans had been asking for), EA announced in October that it was shutting down Visceral, effectively bringing an end to the Dead Space developer’s big-budget, single-player Star Wars adventure. The deal between EA and Star Wars was ostensibly a logical one. When the EA and Disney partnership was announced back in May 2013, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy expressed how EA could “consistently deliver our fans great Star Wars games for years to come,” adding: “When we looked at the talent of the teams that EA was committing to our games and the quality of their vision for Star Wars, the choice was clear.” But with EA’s multi-year contract for the Star Wars license set to conclude in 2023, EA is approaching the halfway point and all they’ve got to show for it is one commercially successful but moderately received Battlefront game, a closed studio and now an internal crisis over in-game purchases that has made national headlines.Īlso: Star Wars Battlefront 2 Review – Born to Lose, Pay-to-Win With EA now pulling a monumental 180-degree turn on this problem, removing its paid currency from the game altogether at launch, many are wondering whether the mistakes EA has made with the license has soured their relationship with the House of Mouse. Since teaming with Disney four years ago in order to handle the sci-fi franchise’s video game releases, EA’s relationship to the Star Wars property has been littered with controversy, best exemplified by the vehement reaction to Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s microtransactions.

EA hasn’t done a great job with the Star Warslicense thus far.

Star wars battlefront ea reaction