The good news? Dice, Bioware and Visceral will take the lead.
The bad: It's still EA.
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Today it was announced that Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney Interactive are entering into a multi-year, multi-title exclusive licensing agreement with Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) for the creation of new high quality Star Wars games aimed at the core gaming audience and spanning multiple genres for console, PC, mobile, and tablets.
Industry leaders and creators of best-in-class blockbuster games, the development and publishing teams at EA will collaborate with the creative teams at Lucasfilm to provide audiences with all-new gaming experiences set in the ever-expanding Star Wars galaxy. As part of the agreement, EA studio teams DICE (Battlefield series) and Visceral (Dead Space series) will join BioWare (Mass Effect series, Star Wars: The Old Republic) in the development of new Star Wars games.
"Our number one objective was to find a developer who could consistently deliver our fans great Star Wars games for years to come," said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. "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."
While EA studios will develop for the core Star Wars gaming audience, Disney Interactive will focus on delivering new Star Wars games for casual audiences on mobile, social, tablet, and online gaming platforms.
"This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come," said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. "Collaborating with one of the world's premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to fans around the world."
"Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe," said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. "Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay."
More information, including titles in development, will be announced in the coming months. Continue to check StarWars.com for updates on the future of Star Wars gaming.
"The Daemon lied with every breath. It could not help itself but to deceive and dismay, to riddle and ruin. The more we conversed, the closer I drew to one singularly ineluctable fact: I would gain no wisdom here."
What do you guys think? Is it a win-win or not? EA was just named America's worst company recently but when they shine they really do. Is this deal a hit or miss?
And what games Star Wars games would you like EA to make?
Me personally, I like the deal and Dice's Battlefront 3 with the power of the Frostbite 3 engine, the best graphics engine out there and my favorite engine, as well, = Win, i'd say...
__________________ "The darkside, Sidious, is an illness no true Sith wishes to be cured of, my young apprentice .."
Gender: Male Location: In Luna's mane, chasing STAAARS!
Knights of the Old Republic III now with co-op and online matchmaking and you can't enter the campaign for it requires internet. Pre-order now and you get an exclusive Zillo Beast Armor set only at Gamestop and downloadable side missions will be available on Xbox Live and PSN for $4.99 each at day one. EA: We do it because we care.
For years EA's had "Live" until '11. And the series is about to get rebooted and released by 3/14 as NBA Live '14. And Both do Tennis, so. There's comp. Not much, but it's there. Which is a good thing.
__________________ "The darkside, Sidious, is an illness no true Sith wishes to be cured of, my young apprentice .."
EA can't do MLB. 2K Sports can't do NFL ,FIFA or PGA Tour. (but I don't think 2K has ever made a soccer game or golf game).
But for basketball and hockey, both EA and 2K have rights. EA is going to release Live on next gen and 2K stopped making NHL games because they sucked.
But the fault lays with the leagues who sell the rights. Is EA/2K at fault for wanting to make money from a sports game? Nope. It's the league that sells it. NHL doesn't allow a company to have exclusive licenses to their games. NFL, FIFA, PGA Tour, NASCAR and MLB do. (not sure about basketball but I think it's in the same boat as NHL)
EA hints that a new Star Wars Battlefront game is in development.
Good news, everyone! We may yet see Star Wars Battlefront 3! At least, according to Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen, who today teased that the publisher may well have the title in development.