Lucasfilm is Reportedly Looking for New STAR WARS Game Developers
Back in 2013, EA announced that it scored the exclusive license to make Star Wars games. Fans were mixed, with EA’s reputation going down the drain. Since that announcement, we’ve been given two console and PC games and a mobile game. To make matters worse, the two big games were Battlefront and Battlefront II, both of which have angered fans for different reasons. The first game had no single player campaign and (in my opinion) was nothing more than Call of Duty with a Star Wars skin thrown on top which really made me peeved. The second game got caught up in a controversy over microtransactions which led to poorer sales than the first. Not to mention, fans have petitioned to have the license revoked from EA. I can only imagine how this negative press has affected the relationship between Disney (the owner of Lucasfilm) and EA. Not to mention, the closing of Visceral Studios who were reportedly working on a single-player Star Wars game before its closing. In 5 years, EA has delivered two games that have most likely caused more headaches than benefits.
This rocky road has led to some rumors coming out that Lucasfilm is looking at extending the Star Wars license to other developers, namely Activision and Ubisoft, reports Cinelinx. Of course, many of us are wondering how this could happen without breaching the contract with EA, but the reporter states:
“I know what you’re thinking, because I had the same thoughts. EA has a contract for the games, exclusively. How could Disney get around that without breaching and causing more problems? I don’t know all the technical aspects of it, but supposedly there’s an addendum of some kind within the contract that would allow Disney to pull the license, or shop it around, if certain standards/conditions weren’t being met. This type of clause isn’t unheard of when dealing with big licenses (and what’s bigger than Star Wars?), and with all the problems and lack of games it doesn’t surprise me in the least that they’re looking elsewhere.”
Now, I’m all for a different developer taking charge of these games. Heck, a Star Wars game similar to Assassin’s Creed (maybe Ahsoka, Ventris, or even someone new) could be really cool. Unfortunately, I have not seen the contract between EA and Disney and so I’m taking this news with a HUGE grain of salt for now, since I don’t know how Disney could get around the contract. Maybe Disney should’ve kept LucasArts alive so they could do this themselves?