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[Kotaku] EA’s Troubled Decade Of Star Wars Games

ArkkAngel007

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,994
Strafer said:
Dead Space and Visceral Games died for this.
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Dead Space died from Dead Space. The series unfortunately didn't do well enough despite the fair amount of marketing behind them for EA to continue. Hence why Visceral was tasked with a Battlefield game.

Visceral itself was killed by the mismanagement and poor resource allocation from EA.
 
Arttemis

Arttemis

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
6,200
Platinum should be making a game, Sega should make one, Capcom should make one. Exclusivity deals are the pits.
 
Darth Smurf X

Darth Smurf X

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,037
Hoth, WI
I have no idea why EA hasn't made an X-wing vs. Tie Fighter VR game for PCVR/PSVR yet. Use the Rogue One VR mission as a template, have Criterion work on it, ???????? and profit.
 
Arttemis

Arttemis

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
6,200
ArkkAngel007 said:
Dead Space died from Dead Space. The series unfortunately didn't do well enough despite the fair amount of marketing behind them for EA to continue. Hence why Visceral was tasked with a Battlefield game.

Visceral itself was killed by the mismanagement and poor resource allocation from EA.
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This is such a bogus mentality. Each iteration sold better than the majority of the genre, but EA forced multiplayer elements in both sequels, and a microtransaction system in the third installment. EA's projections were consistently unrealistic.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,214
Arttemis said:
Platinum should be making a game, Sega should make one, Capcom should make one. Exclusivity deals are the pits.
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Honestly I would rather indies get a crack at it, like Supergiant or Drinkbox. I could probably list 10 devs I would want to see a Star Wars game from and only 2 or 3 are AAA devs
 
Meows

Meows

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,399
If AAA gaming takes too long and is too expensive, where are the cheap and charming mobile games to pick up the slack? Galaxy of Heroes is fun for a little while but it is mostly a gambling operation. We don't need a game every year (or even every two years) but having only two extremely similar games in seven years with multiple cancellations is a very bad look, regardless if the blame is EA or Lucasfilm or both.
 
disparate

disparate

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,904
AztecComplex said:
EA can keep their Respawn game if they want. Just take away from them this deal being exclusive to EA. Let other publishers take a crack at it! It's working marvelously for Marvel (pun intended)! Disney has got to have an eye on that as they see how bad EA is fumbling this.
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Marvel isn't Lucasfilms. The former isn't strangled by ridiculous canon rules.
 
ShiningBash

ShiningBash

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,416
Mr_Moogle said:
I know somebody who worked on The Force Unleashed and he told me LucasArts were extremely overbearing with the license and I'm sure that Disney is much the same. I don't really see this as much of an excuse though. Over the years there have been plenty of developers who were able to make great Star Wars games in spite of the overbearing license holder.

The real problem is making a decent Star Wars game isn't enough for EA. They want that microtransaction money which means they are locked into making games in specific genres like multiplayer shooters. People like me who just want KOTOR 3 or a new Rogue Squadron game are basically fresh out of luck because those games can't be monetised to the same degree.

I just wish Disney hadn't signed an exclusive deal. Why not shop the license around a bit and wait until somebody figures out how to make a Star Wars game that ticks all the boxes both critically and commercially? Locking yourself into a 10 year deal with a creatively bankrupt company like EA seems like a recipe for disatser but I guess they wanted that fast and easy money.
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I don't think microtransactions are the problem for game development, I think EA has figured that part out. Furthermore, the amount of effort (and opportunities for unworkable oversight) are far greater in this stage of the HD era than they ever were for KOTOR or Rogue Squadron. The hardware limitations forced more compromises.

Now just imagine some Disney exec watching the Cyberpunk 77 45-min trailer and deciding that the next Star Wars game needs to meet that standard. Months of work could be lost bc they decide that textures need to be re-done.
 
RagdollRhino

RagdollRhino

Banned
Oct 10, 2018
950
Darth Smurf X said:
I have no idea why EA hasn't made an X-wing vs. Tie Fighter VR game for PCVR/PSVR yet. Use the Rogue One VR mission as a template, have Criterion work on it, ???????? and profit.
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This is the most puzzling thing in my mind. That was easily the most immersive SW game I've played and it was only 25min long. I would pay $60 for a 4-5 hour campaign of that.
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,097
Sydney
aggrocrog said:
Everyone is jumping on EA's back over this, but I see Disney fingerprints everywhere. These cancellations scream overbearing license-owner.

Just think about the movies, which have seen massive turnover in directors. Disney wants very particular things, and Jason's article alludes to the bureaucratic burden they add.
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Agreed.

EA obviously has serious problems of its own but it makes me worry once the exclusive deal with EA ends things aren't going to get markedly better given Disney will still be there to micromanage the colour of Dexter Jettster's hat.
 
SMD

SMD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,341
RagdollRhino said:
This is the most puzzling thing in my mind. That was easily the most immersive SW game I've played and it was only 25min long. I would pay $60 for a 4-5 hour campaign of that.
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They don't want you paying 60 bucks for 5 hours, they want you playing for hundreds of hours and shoveling money into their wallets on a daily basis.
 
Temp_User

Temp_User

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,697
Unlike football fans (both association and American versions), Star Wars fans have publicly demonstrated that they want a good Star Wars game instead of a digital platform for gambling and/or micro-transactions. These poor fans should know well by now that video-games have no place in Andrew Wilson-era EA.
 
Nightengale

Nightengale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,708
Malaysia
To play devil's advocate, it hasn't exactly 'worked marvelously' for Marvel.

When Marvel Games started their 'partner with the best devs in the biz' initiative, they started out with:

- Marvel's Spider-Man x Sony ( hugely successful )
- MvC Infinite x Capcom ( huge flop )
- Guardian of the Galaxy x Telltale ( not successful )

MG's hit-rate so far is only 1 out of 3 in terms of non-mobile releases.

We need to see more out of Crystal's Avengers and Team Ninja's MUA3, and what other stuff are brewing in the pipeline. At this point, they're slightly better than the SW-approach, if only by virtue of Spidey's success.
 
RagdollRhino

RagdollRhino

Banned
Oct 10, 2018
950
SMD said:
They don't want you paying 60 bucks for 5 hours, they want you playing for hundreds of hours and shoveling money into their wallets on a daily basis.
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After playing that demo, I hate to say it, but I would support most any pay scheme they could come up with. It would be my first and last time though(until a sequel came along) lol
 
Cabbagehead

Cabbagehead

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,019
Nightengale said:
To play devil's advocate, it hasn't exactly 'worked marvelously' for Marvel.

When Marvel Games started their 'partner with the best devs in the biz' initiative, they started out with:

- Marvel's Spider-Man x Sony ( hugely successful )
- MvC Infinite x Capcom ( huge flop )
- Guardian of the Galaxy x Telltale ( not successful )

MG's hit-rate so far is only 1 out of 3 in terms of non-mobile releases.

We need to see more out of Crystal's Avengers and Team Ninja's MUA3, and what other stuff are brewing in the pipeline. At this point, they're slightly better than the SW-approach, if only by virtue of Spidey's success.
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I bet Marvel has more long term success than negative. Given who they choose next after Ninja and Crystal.
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
With how much money, expertise and the amount of quality studios EA has, it boggles my mind the only things they released are two Battlefront games, with both with their fair share of issues (the first one barely had any content and felt like a reskinned Battlefield but with less depth, the second had those lootboxes that caused a controversy and the game was again not on par with Battlefield). People like to shit on EA (for many valid reasons, mind), but I don't think anyone could seriously predict this was going to happen. At this rate they are planning to have a "minor" Star Wars game out in 2020 as it appears, with the Titanfall devs working on another thing as well. What's this game gonna be, another Battlefront? Imagine if this deal ends and we only get Battlefront games out of it.
 
Grassy

Grassy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,051
It fucking blows my mind we haven't had an X-Wing/Tie Fighter/Rogue Squadron successor yet...

Ge0force said:
I don't really remember SW Battlefront being well-received to be honest...
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I think the last two Battlefront games had average reviews, but still sold like hotcakes. I think Battlefront did ~14 million and Battlefront 2 did at least 8 million or so?
 
Dussck

Dussck

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,136
The Netherlands
I'm so done with Star Wars and lightsabers, go make something interesting instead. How people can not get tired of 40 years of seeing the same droids and hearing that dated John Williams soundtrack is beyond me.
 
Worthintendo

Worthintendo

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Oct 25, 2017
943
It's kinda funny that the best and most enjoyable Star Wars game to come out since EA snapped up the deal is Disney Infinity 3.0
 
EarthPainting

EarthPainting

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Oct 26, 2017
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The relatively low output in the home console space is disappointing, but I'm not sure if it's entirely fair to sidestep mobile in this conversation. Star Wars has to keep in mind that people on the younger and older ends of the spectrum tend to play on mobile devices. Those people make up a pretty significant chunk of the Star Wars audience, and they might be pretty satisfied with the current situation. Galaxy of Heroes for instance was a successful title that is still being updated and played by its audience.
 

abady-25

Member
Oct 27, 2017
658
Cabbagehead said:
I bet Marvel has more long term success than negative. Given who they choose next after Ninja and Crystal.
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i will not surprise if they choose Sony again

the game was successful in sell and quality compared to
MvC Infinite vs Capcom
Guardian of the Galaxy

if crystal dynamics and Team Ninja release successful game with high quality and big sell
marvel will continue with them
 
Darth Smurf X

Darth Smurf X

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,037
Hoth, WI
RagdollRhino said:
This is the most puzzling thing in my mind. That was easily the most immersive SW game I've played and it was only 25min long. I would pay $60 for a 4-5 hour campaign of that.
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SMD said:
They don't want you paying 60 bucks for 5 hours, they want you playing for hundreds of hours and shoveling money into their wallets on a daily basis.
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I'd pay $60 for a multiplayer-ONLY Starfighter Assault VR game. WITH MTX.
 
Apathy

Apathy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,992
It's an IP that can print money and they still fuck it up.

Just go the Marvel route. Give the rights to different companies. Man what I would do to get Sony to give a star wars game the spider-man treatment, plus it shows that a game in that vein can sell.

A new Star wars commando game by 4A would be sick.
 
dancingphlower

dancingphlower

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,056
Nightengale said:
To play devil's advocate, it hasn't exactly 'worked marvelously' for Marvel.

When Marvel Games started their 'partner with the best devs in the biz' initiative, they started out with:

- Marvel's Spider-Man x Sony ( hugely successful )
- MvC Infinite x Capcom ( huge flop )
- Guardian of the Galaxy x Telltale ( not successful )

MG's hit-rate so far is only 1 out of 3 in terms of non-mobile releases.

We need to see more out of Crystal's Avengers and Team Ninja's MUA3, and what other stuff are brewing in the pipeline. At this point, they're slightly better than the SW-approach, if only by virtue of Spidey's success.
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To me it reads like MvC's and Guardians' failures are more of knocks against Capcom and Telltale than Marvel (although I suppose you could say they went with the wrong business partners so maybe their business acumen is off lol), considering how Capcom has handled their fighting games this gen and Telltale, being, well, Telltale (RIP).
 
Umbrella Carp

Umbrella Carp

Banned
Jan 16, 2019
3,265
Everyone here is already acutely aware of how EA are complete deadshits, but Disney have to bear a significant amount of the blame. They didn't give a shit who was handling Star Wars on the video game front. If they had done any vetting at all, they would've learned what the rest of us in the industry already know about the corrosive assholes and would've picked a better partner.
 
Smokeymicpot

Smokeymicpot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,838
AztecComplex said:
What? That didn't stop them from making 200 Star Wars videogames before Disney bought Lucasfilms. They can always ignore them. You think they'll keep the Battlefront story canon for too long? Ha!
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They don't want to ignore them. At this point Disney wants everything to be canon. They don't want 200 random games that can possibly use a plot they might want to use for a tv show or movie.
 
TheChungusAmongUs

TheChungusAmongUs

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,563
I feel like a lot of people are only reading the quotes OP gave, but I think the context that Visceral Employee gave of "people think its amazing to work on Star Wars. But it actually kinda sucks" is really telling.

Lucasfilm constantly having to interfere and question every creative decision made must have been annoying, and slowed the process down to a crawl.
 
Tetra-Grammaton-Cleric

Tetra-Grammaton-Cleric

user requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,958
Dussck said:
Did I step on your lightsaber, sir?
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Nope, just mystified when people like you post such myopic, self-indulgent drivel.

If you don't like something that's fine but the kind of swill you posted - that 'My tastes are so much more refined and enlightened than the rest of you.' bullshit is something particularly grating.

But that post, coupled with what you probably thought was a clever rejoinder, tell me everything I need to know about you.

Cheers.
 
OP
OP
Aokiji

Aokiji

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,265
Los Angeles
Umbrella Carp said:
Everyone here is already acutely aware of how EA are complete deadshits, but Disney have to bear a significant amount of the blame. They didn't give a shit who was handling Star Wars on the video game front. If they had done any vetting at all, they would've learned what the rest of us in the industry already know about the corrosive assholes and would've picked a better partner.
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the thing is when disney chose EA it made sense (to them) because *at the time* they had a bunch of studios and capital so they figured it would result in a multitude of games.

Thatguy said:
Odds are pretty much zero that 9 isn't a set up for 10-12. We just don't know what cast will be returning. This is Disney and the main episodic SW films are super lucrative.
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there's two trilogies set up after 9 that arent following ep 9. idk whether thell be called 10,11,12 but i doubt it considering
- rian johnson has one that is "separate from the skywalker saga" which is I-IX
- and the GoT guys D&D have another, which is also separate from skywalker and rian's trilogy
 
Dussck

Dussck

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,136
The Netherlands
Tetra-Grammaton-Cleric said:
Nope, just mystified when people like you post such myopic, self-indulgent drivel.

If you don't like something that's fine but the kind of swill you posted - that 'My tastes are so much more refined and enlightened than the rest of you.' bullshit is something particularly grating.

But that post, coupled with what you probably thought was a clever rejoinder, tell me everything I need to know about you.

Cheers.
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Well, you got a point there.

Now I regret making that post actually, dammit.
 
Deepwater

Deepwater

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,349
It's telling that the lede here is that working with Disney, but particularly the Lucas films part kind of sucks. But folks thinks it's all on EA
 
Amnixia

Amnixia

▲ Legend ▲
The Fallen
Jan 25, 2018
10,411
I just realised that they only released 2 battlefronts.

It could have been great, EA has talented devs.
Downside to only looking at demographics I geuss.
 
Izzard

Izzard

Banned
Sep 21, 2018
4,606
Deepwater said:
It's telling that the lede here is that working with Disney, but particularly the Lucas films part kind of sucks. But folks thinks it's all on EA
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This is true. Look what Disney did with Disney Infinity. Just shut it down and cancelled 4.0. I'm not sure Disney really care that much for games, and just sold the license to make more money.
 
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