Of course, the very fact that there's multiple Star Wars games in development at EA (not to mention the aforementioned MMO as well as mobile games) means there ought to have been room for a single-player, story-driven game.
So does Titanfall 2 developer, Respawn. Meanwhile, Star Wars Battlefront 2 launches on November 17th. Jade Raymond's EA Motive has a project in the works. I guess it just isn't meant to be.Īt least this wasn't the only Star Wars game in the works. You'd think Star Wars would make the perfect action-adventure game given the popularity of the films. Star Wars 1313, which was in development at the time, was cancelled. When Disney acquired LucasFilm they shuttered its game division, LucasArts. Just as depressing is the fact that this isn't the first story-driven Star Wars game to meet its demise in recent years. I just hope there's a kneel emote in BioWare's 'Anthem.' Credit: BioWare/EA To have that fall apart as well is extremely disheartening. It was pretty surprising when Hennig left Naughty Dog during what appeared to be creative differences over the direction of Uncharted 4. It was equally exciting to see her begin work on a Star Wars game. Meanwhile, the game will be taken over by a team from across EA Worldwide Studios, headed up by an EA Vancouver team that's already been involved in the project.Īn EA spokesman told Kotaku that they are "in discussions" with Amy Hennig about her future involvement with the overhauled game. At least Sony still publishes games that prize strong storytelling and linearity, from Uncharted to The Last of Us to Horizon Zero Dawn and the upcoming God of War reboot.ĮA says that they're shifting as many employees from Visceral to other studios. I'd love to see a linear, story-driven Star Wars game come out of one of Sony's studios, for instance.
This is why it's such a mistake for Disney to put the entire Star Wars franchise into EA's hands.
It makes sense to have an open-world, open-ended grindy game set in the Star Wars universe (though we already have The Old Republic) but it also makes sense for more linear, story-driven campaigns, and it's a shame that the bottom line has come to this. While I completely understand that 'games as service' is a business model/game design model that's here to stay, and with good reason, that hardly means every game ought to be designed this way. Suffice to say, I'm beyond disappointed by this news. That's why BioWare gave so little love to Mass Effect: Andromeda-they were hard at work developing Anthem, EA's last best hope at taking on Destiny. Of course, squandering the story-focused talents of a team like BioWare to come up with a co-op shooter designed to sell loot boxes (probably) is really, really weird.Īnd scrapping a game headed up by a veteran writer like Hennig because focus groups wanted more side quests and loot strikes me as the height of folly, not to mention fairly naked greed. Credit: EAīut EA is fully committed to the 'games as service' model at this point. Once exciting, now this screenshot is just sad. Or at least that's how many video game publishers see it. Games like Destiny, which keep players playing indefinitely through a combination of expansions, micro-transactions and RPG-based feedback loops, are the big money-makers these days. EA wanted the game to fit the "games as service" mold, and a linear action-adventure in the vein of Uncharted just won't cut it. What that means isn't entirely certain, but to anyone paying attention to the video game industry in recent years, the answer is clear. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. “In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game.
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