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Star Wars games appear to be adopting "Lucasfilm Games" for their primary branding
- Thread starter Cross-Section
- Start date
The opportunity cost of EA getting the license was 1313, and whatever else Lucasart might have done, was canceled. Not sure what is hard to grasp on that.
Yeah I guess it's an unprovable counter factual we would have gotten even less Star Wars games had there been no deal, it just doesn't seem very likely to me at all.
It wouldn't have to be Games Workshop levels of license flogging but I could easily see a half dozen or so more developers and publishers pick up Star Wars projects across a wider group of genres than EA is a capable of producing.
The Star Wars license and prior catalogue of games seems to lend itself much more readily to that than the Avengers.
Seems like the rebrand is a step in that direction hopefully!
1313 died because Disney wanted to get out of the gaming industry, not because EA took the licence, it would likely have died regardless of publisher or if Disney didn't even make a deal, they didn't want to make games at all. And again, I don't think as many publishers would jump at making Star Wars game as much as you think, Star Wars has a 20% cut
I think plenty of developers would have jumped at the chance, I think the limitation would be that Disney would only be interested in AAA titles which is probably why they went with EA.
How many indies can afford to give 20% of their revenue away to another company for their game?
Ultimately developers make games, not publishers. It's no surprise that two of the best Star Wars gaming properties have come from BioWare and Respawn.
An exclusive license just means a limit on the number of top-tier studios that can work on Star Wars at any one time, particularly when you factor in that those studios are likely working on their own IP, too. It's clear that Disney and LucasFilm see the future of Star Wars as multiple timelines, character sets and stories within that universe, and I don't think an exclusive licensing deal will fulfil those ambitions on the gaming side quite like they're planned within other mediums.
An exclusive license just means a limit on the number of top-tier studios that can work on Star Wars at any one time, particularly when you factor in that those studios are likely working on their own IP, too. It's clear that Disney and LucasFilm see the future of Star Wars as multiple timelines, character sets and stories within that universe, and I don't think an exclusive licensing deal will fulfil those ambitions on the gaming side quite like they're planned within other mediums.
Feels like Star Wars is going full circle back to where it was after the Prequel films released. I certainly hope this means we'll get some good quality Star Wars titles like back then.
So if they don't go for AAA and they don't go for indie, who do they go to? The AA industry is only just starting to recover recently and still aren't that strong so how can they afford the 20% cut either?
Oh there are definitely middle tier developers who would have developed a Star Wars branded game in the past decade.
Otherwise why even give EA exclusivity if the economics don't work for anybody else.
Disney is never going to handle the IP to an indie studio or to someone smaller without a big publisher funding the project, good luck with that.
Disney wants nothing to do with all the funding/development/marketing/QA stuff, that's why they killed their gaming division, they just want the profits and having creative control over what are the studio actually making using the SW IP.
This was before Disney, now Disney wants everything to be canon and they have a strict control on the IP.
Telltale making a STAR WARS story is going to be HELL for the studio compared to something like The Walking Dead, Batman or Fables where they had full creative freedom.
Because EA had the cash
Because EA had a story with SW games (SWTOR)
Because EA is a major publisher
Disney wants nothing to do with all the funding/development/marketing/QA stuff, that's why they killed their gaming division, they just want the profits and having creative control over what are the studio actually making using the SW IP.
This was before Disney, now Disney wants everything to be canon and they have a strict control on the IP.
Telltale making a STAR WARS story is going to be HELL for the studio compared to something like The Walking Dead, Batman or Fables where they had full creative freedom.
Because EA had the cash
Because EA had a story with SW games (SWTOR)
Because EA is a major publisher
Because it was really between the three big AAA publishers and even after the deal was made and EA got a new CEO, there were apparently debates within EA if the deal was that good or worth it? The idea that there's a lot of developers/publishers chomping at the bit to make a Star Wars game is debatable
So why do they need exclusivity if no one else is capable of doing it?
EA needed exclusivity because they weren't sure it was a good deal? I don't quite follow.
EA has the exclusivity for "core games".
Warner Bros Games and Traveller's Tale never stopped making LEGO Star Wars
Why do they need? EA paid money, that's why.
Do many people think things will be much different if the license is given elsewhere? Didn't a lot of the troubles with JFO (and this part iis me speculating) and cancelled projects come from the fact that Lucasfilms demand that everything be canon moving forward?
Sorry but this doesn't really answer why EA would need exclusivity if no one else is capable of making these games.
In truth the reason EA would need exclusivity is the same reason they need it for the NFL and FIFA licenses; so other developers cannot make games based on the license to compete with them.
That rule is why I think that many developers/publishers won't bother with it, because it stiffles creative freedom way too much. Imagine prototyping something and then Disney coming in and sayin "Nope", because the game doesn't abide by that stupid rule. Not only would that be a huge waste of time, but it also would be a money sink to these devs/pubs.
No shit? Disney went to them and EA agreed and they obviously paid money to have the license exclusively. That's how exclusive deals work.
And again, this deal didn't stop Warner Bors and TT to make LEGO Star Wars games or the VR titles made by other studios or Zynga mobile games.
Ok well for clarification you quoted me discussing with someone arguing other developers couldn't make Star Wars games which I don't think is necessarily true, which is why I made the point EA must have asked for the exclusivity for a reason.
And as I mentioned earlier in the thread when EA got a new CEO they questioned if it had been actually a good idea to spend so much money tieing themselves to such an expensive IP when they had actually started more trying to invest in their own IP's -something the majority of AAA publishers have been doing too
I see a lot of discussion about this but I can't find the answer within it:
Does this mean that (shit) EA deal is now over?
Does this mean that (shit) EA deal is now over?
No, the deal is until 2023.
But they are going to release more Star Wars games even if they don't have the exclusivity.
Exclusivity agreements are bullshit and the whole criticism of Disney for making a 10 year deal with only EA being allowed to make Star Wars games is bad business.
Pretty much this.
Pretty much this.
Yeah that's fine.
I'd just love to see a world where any dev could present an idea to this "Lucasfilm Games" and have a game made. Imagine if indie devs could use the Star Wars IP?
Frig.
Hope this means the end of EA being the one giving the Green light to star wars games going forward
I am a Star Wars fan and I highly doubt that it is still the biggest (entertainment) brand on the planet.
Not after the MCU took over.
So Lucasfilm Games is one day old and the Indiana Jones game was already announced.
I'm expecting more reveals soon.
I'm expecting more reveals soon.
The approach to licensed games these days is very different than it was at the time. The reason why we got so many Star Wars games during the 2000s was that devs could do a lot without worrying too much about canon, and there were movie tie-ins as well. Nowadays, every Star Wars game has to be canon, every game asset has to be approved by Lucasfilm Games, and more.
This rebranding is not at all related to the EA/Star Wars contract. Lucasfilm had a group of people working on the games' licenses and greenlighting stuff, but they now have an official name, and can license more than Star Wars games. Indiana Jones is the first step, and maybe we'll see more as they have quite a few interesting franchises to use (Monkey Island please).
