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Scuffed

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10,866
Not really sure why people want them to do... 3 projects in varying lengths of preproduction/production, that weren't going to pan out were cancelled.

Did you want them to force out inferior projects out the door?

They've had SW a long time and have a lot of money and resources they could have made more games.
 

XaviConcept

Art Director for Videogames
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,906
Not gonna go into specifics, but Ive said this multiple times. Just because you dont hear about all the games that get cancelled in the industry (from EVERY developer and publisher) doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

The general gist that is basically accepted within the industry is that youll cancel 9 games before arriving at the one that ships
 

dgrdsv

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,874
How do you even make a "spin off" of a completely eclectic multiplayer shooter? I mean, we have heroes from all three trilogies battling each other in SWBF2 right now.
 

sweetmini

Member
Jun 12, 2019
3,921
How do you even make a "spin off" of a completely eclectic multiplayer shooter? I mean, we have heroes from all three trilogies battling each other in SWBF2 right now.

It's possible it was a space Combat flight sim, a bit like the original XWing VS Tie Fighter (that didn't have story campaign before the expansion).
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,595


Hello Obsidian
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Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,085
Seems like they canceled more games than they released with the license. That is a lot of R&D down the toilet
 

Garlador

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
14,131
Seems like they canceled more games than they released with the license. That is a lot of R&D down the toilet
A lot of talent lost and studios closed too. I've heard way too many rumors of Lucasfilm being a nightmare to negotiate with too, which makes already-difficult game development akin to pulling teeth to get anything done.

If they were to come to me with the Star Wars license right now and tell me to get to work on a game, I'd be very cautious of my future prospects.
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JediEagle

Member
Oct 17, 2018
265
Slovenia
Lol, so many missed opportunities... Hell, I'd pay for PSVR game :D I really loved the ONE mission they released for SW:B1. Hell, I bought the game for PS4, just so I can play that ONE mission every once in a while. I don't play the multiplayer or with bots and I don't like to play FPS on consoles. They could recreate famous SW battles in PSVR, released them for 20 bucks, and I would have bought them ....
 

Sax

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,325
Criterion leads had an ambitious vision for the game, aiming to put a strong focus on story and characters.

It soon became clear that Viking would never be finished in just a year and a half, and EA's executives had no interest in extending the timeline.

Cool cool. Great. So instead of taking the time to make an ambitious Star Wars game with a strong focus on story and characters we get... nothing? Good deal.
 

Richietto

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,977
North Carolina
Im not gonna act like games don't get cancelled all the time. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, you name it probably cancel games all the time. That being said I cannot wait for their exclusivity deal to end. I want some fuckin' Star Wars games and to me its better if a whole slew of different developers have their hands on Star Wars than just 1. That way even if a bunch of publishers are canceling Star Wars games you'll still get a few every so often unlike the minuscule output of Star Wars over at EA.
 

Bjones

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,622
Fallen order was really cool but really janky and I polished. I wonder how bad these other games have to be.
 

Deleted member 17184

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,240
I get why game cancellations are reported, but sometimes I wish they weren't — especially if they aren't announced games. These happen all the time. It would be okay if it didn't lead to so much speculation and anger, but it does. That's the problem. People understandably want more transparency, but then this happens.
Not gonna go into specifics, but Ive said this multiple times. Just because you dont hear about all the games that get cancelled in the industry (from EVERY developer and publisher) doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

The general gist that is basically accepted within the industry is that youll cancel 9 games before arriving at the one that ships
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^
 

The_R3medy

Member
Jan 22, 2018
2,843
Wisconsin
I'm just gonna call this ball in the air: Disney is going to have another company besides EA making Star Wars game during next gen. If they don't, EA will be paying out the ass to keep the license.
 

Kerotan

Banned
Oct 31, 2018
3,951
I'd rather they upped the resources for more BF2 updates instead. Hopefully BF3 is next gen only in 2021 or 2022.
 

KrAzY

Member
Sep 2, 2018
1,922
Just keep on updating battlefront 2 and improve on that, if you gonna GaaS games, might as well just have the one game and no need for sequels which keep resetting your progress/collection
 

Dysun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,975
Miami
I will be incredibly bummed if EA re ups the license with Disney. Even though I liked Fallen Order, it will have been a giant waste of the IP for ten years
 

WillyFive

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,977
If it was from Criterion, I wonder if this would have been the successor to the Rogue Squadron series.
 

Deleted member 51691

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 6, 2019
17,834
Did Disney's big speech at DICE about letting developers have at their IPs include Star Wars or does EA still have a stranglehold on the video game license?
 

AegonSnake

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,566
so they hired Amy Henning in 2014. she spent 3 and a half years on a game they cancelled in favor of Motive's game which was cancelled two years later. then a year later, they cancelled this game that took its spot.

thats 6 years. 3 cancelled games. i bet EA's CEO still made millions in bonuses each year though.

what a failure that guy is. utter tool.
 

SuperBanana

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,741
so they hired Amy Henning in 2014. she spent 3 and a half years on a game they cancelled in favor of Motive's game which was cancelled two years later. then a year later, they cancelled this game that took its spot.

thats 6 years. 3 cancelled games. i bet EA's CEO still made millions in bonuses each year though.

what a failure that guy is. utter tool.

EA made their biggest revenue ever last year. Just like Bobby Kotick, it doesn't matter how many games, developers, or ideas you fuck up as long as you generate more money by the end.
 

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
It is hard to imagine a franchise with more potential for great videogames than Star Wars.

First person shooter
Third person Action RPG
KOTOR-style RPG
X-Wing/TIE-Fighter sims
Strategy games
X-COM style tactics game

And the list goes on.
 

Armadilo

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,877
How much longer until EA Star Wars deal ends, seriously what a waste of a property and years because they can't give us good Star Wars games.
 

SirKai

Member
Dec 28, 2017
7,375
Washington
I get why game cancellations are reported, but sometimes I wish they weren't — especially if they aren't announced games. These happen all the time. It would be okay if it didn't lead to so much speculation and anger, but it does. That's the problem. People understandably want more transparency, but then this happens.

The difference is that the two games preceding this canceled internal project, Ragtag and the open world step child using its assets, were both publicly announced/confirmed.
 
Oct 25, 2017
41,368
Miami, FL
Not gonna go into specifics, but Ive said this multiple times. Just because you dont hear about all the games that get cancelled in the industry (from EVERY developer and publisher) doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

The general gist that is basically accepted within the industry is that youll cancel 9 games before arriving at the one that ships
Fascinating.

On average, how far do those 9 cancelled games typically get into the creation process? Story boards? A small team working on a concept to pitch? Relatively fleshed out demo to try to get a green light? Further? Again, on average.
 

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,085
A lot of talent lost and studios closed too. I've heard way too many rumors of Lucasfilm being a nightmare to negotiate with too, which makes already-difficult game development akin to pulling teeth to get anything done.

If they were to come to me with the Star Wars license right now and tell me to get to work on a game, I'd be very cautious of my future prospects.
giphy.gif
Yeah better to live or die on something new. Thinking back the brand does not nearly as many games as it should. And lowkey, the last star wars game i enjoyed was galaxies
 

Akita One

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,627
This thing where people just believe that a canceled game would have been good is so weird. Like no concept of how any kind of entertainment works.
 

Deleted member 17184

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,240
The difference is that the two games preceding this canceled internal project, Ragtag and the open world step child using its assets, were both publicly announced/confirmed.
Ragtag is true, but the closest EA publicly said about the EA Vancouver project was that it was trying new stuff. It was never properly announced — or at least not at the same level of Ragtag. And this one was never even announced at all. Probably because it could be cancelled at any time.
 

DrScruffleton

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,548
Jason just replied to me on Twitter saying that he doesn't think the unusual game in production is related to project luminous. That destroys a huge rumor that's been going around in the Star Wars communities for months now
 

Illusion

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,407
I hope Disney doesn't continue their contract with EA. Has been nothing but cancer and EA trying to save face after falling out of Disney's good graces.

Nothing has been worth the years the IP has been under hostage.
 

XaviConcept

Art Director for Videogames
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,906
Fascinating.

On average, how far do those 9 cancelled games typically get into the creation process? Story boards? A small team working on a concept to pitch? Relatively fleshed out demo to try to get a green light? Further? Again, on average.
Different per company, of course. Many projects that do ship get effectively "cancelled" a bunch of times before shipping (industry people use "pivot" sometimes but its the same thing, really) Thats why some games that have been in development for 5 plus years come out and it looks like its had maybe 2 years of development (FFXV, Diablo 3, etc)

At EA, a game doesnt enter production until its greenlit, and getting greenlit is a big deal because thats when you start moving serious amount of resources, setting dates and spending money on building the team. Tons of games get "cancelled" before getting greenlit and this SW project was probably one of them. The stages between the beginning of a project and getting greenlit are many and its hard to say how much work is being put into any one of those stages, could be a number of prototypes, a vertical slice, maybe some proof of concept videos ... really depends on the team itself. Dead Space is infamous because the team basically built a very thorough, very expensive vertical slice before getting greenlit which .. well in theory its a very bad idea because of the risk involved and the precedent it set But it definitely worked out for them.

So yeah, people certainly have their EA bias but this is in no way uncommon. People always assume a cancelled game would have been good and somehow the publisher is to blame for the cancellation But the reality is that most games get cancelled for -very- good reasons and its a good thing to pivot and change things up before shit gets really expensive
 

JigglesBunny

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
31,119
Chicago
EA obtaining the Star Wars license is literally one of the very worst business related things to happen in the video game industry in decades and Jedi: Fallen Order and a handful of content updates for Battlefront II don't even begin to make up for it.
 
Nov 2, 2017
4,468
Birmingham, AL
I cannot wait till the EA-Star Wars deal ends. Just so everyone on this forum might actually see just how big of a hand Disney/Lucasfilm plays in the game development.

It's difficult for EA to develop games based on Star Wars. They have to check so many boxes like the games having to be 100% canon while also not stepping on any toes of any other planned or potential film/tv/comic uses of the IP. And also having to hit very specific deadlines, to fit into the massive Star Wars marketing and release campaign. Which is the biggest reason for Viscerals canceled game. Missed deadlines. NOT because it was single player only.

There's so many cogs moving in Disneys Star Wars machine, and it's gotta keep operating exactly how Disney wants it.

Remember that Respawn/EA reportedly had to basically beg Disney/Lucasfilm to let their game use Jedi and lightsabers.
 

Gabriel Hall

Member
Oct 27, 2017
514
Different per company, of course. Many projects that do ship get effectively "cancelled" a bunch of times before shipping (industry people use "pivot" sometimes but its the same thing, really) Thats why some games that have been in development for 5 plus years come out and it looks like its had maybe 2 years of development (FFXV, Diablo 3, etc)

At EA, a game doesnt enter production until its greenlit, and getting greenlit is a big deal because thats when you start moving serious amount of resources, setting dates and spending money on building the team. Tons of games get "cancelled" before getting greenlit and this SW project was probably one of them. The stages between the beginning of a project and getting greenlit are many and its hard to say how much work is being put into any one of those stages, could be a number of prototypes, a vertical slice, maybe some proof of concept videos ... really depends on the team itself. Dead Space is infamous because the team basically built a very thorough, very expensive vertical slice before getting greenlit which .. well in theory its a very bad idea because of the risk involved and the precedent it set But it definitely worked out for them.

So yeah, people certainly have their EA bias but this is in no way uncommon. People always assume a cancelled game would have been good and somehow the publisher is to blame for the cancellation But the reality is that most games get cancelled for -very- good reasons and its a good thing to pivot and change things up before shit gets really expensive

Thank you for your insight. :) This was interesting to learn and helped me to look at cancelled games in a different light.
 

mreddie

Member
Oct 26, 2017
44,092
I'm legit shocked Jedi survived and maybe getting a sequel now.

tenor.gif


EA has really fucked this up.
 

Dazraell

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
1,843
Poland
Maybe it's for the best. This game was apparently considered as "filling" the gap and had year and a half development time, so it probably wouldn't be a high quality product either. I'm still surprised they didn't tried to make an entire game concetrated around space battles, though. It was one of the highlights of Battlefront 2.