EA seems to be making a concerted effort to turn around its bad image in the wake of some seriously disappointing games in recent years. Titles likeBattlefield 5andMadden NFLended up being very controversial for their respective playerbases, with both games sharing issues of severely lacking content. In particular, EA’s titles from theStar Warsfranchise have seen a lot of backlash from fans. However, for as much flak asStar Wars Battlefront 2received, the game has made a serious comeback from its controversial release. Paired with the excellent singleplayer adventure in Respawn’sStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and EA’s made improvements.
However, with the reforming of Lucasfilm Games as a licensing brand rather than a game publisher/developer,Star Warsgames will no longer be produced by EA exclusively. Already, this announcement has been followed by several new publishers announcing new Lucasfilm Games titles in development, from Bethesda’sIndiana Jonesgame to Ubisoft’sStar Warsgame. Even if EA isn’t the sole publisher ofStar Warsgames, that doesn’t necessarily mean its respective development studios are done makingStar Warsgames. What itdoesmean is that, for lack of a more appropriate phrase, EA no longer has its stranglehold over theStar WarsIP in video games.
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EA Loses Exclusivity, But Not Any Existing Star Wars Franchises/Games
To clarify, EA is still willing and dutifully makingStar Warsgames, even at this very moment. The former-exclusive publisher made a statement saying they are “proud of our long-standing collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, which will continue for years to come.” On the Lucasfilm Games side, vice president Douglas Reilly went even further to say that there’s still “a number of projects underway with the talented teams at EA,” so the publisher certainly isn’t done yet. That means comments from EA CEO Andrew Wilson earlier in 2020, regardingStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderbeing the start of a new game franchise, still ring true regardless of the loss of exclusivity.
All ofthe speculation onStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2or the nextBattlefrontgame isn’t moot, it just means that other publishers like Ubisoft will get to work with theStar WarsIP in games as well. For reference, the reforming of Lucasfilm Games as a brand wasn’t strictly for removing EA’s development exclusivity. Bethesda Softworks announced that Machine Games, the developers behind theWolfensteinreboot, are working on anIndiana Jonesgames. Ubisoft Massive, the team behindThe Division, is working on a new open world “story-driven"Star Warsgame. Opening up theStar WarsIP to other studios hasn’t excised EA fromStar Warsas a result.
Not Necessarily Too Little, Too Late for EA
It’s unfortunate for EA and its development studios that fought hard to eliminate the stigma left behind from games likeStar Wars BattlefrontandBattlefront 2. To be fair, it wasn’t just EA’s efforts in theStar WarsIP that gave the publisher the notorious reputation it has today. Games like the aforementionedBattlefield 5andMadden NFL 2021brought controversy to EA in recent years due to the egregious lack of content. However, for a game which was constantly ridiculed by fans for its own microtransaction scandal,Star Wars Battlefront 2has seen massive improvementin added free content as well as addressing progression and microtransaction issues.
That’s without even mentioningthe success that wasStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the first major singleplayer effort under EA’sStar Warsgames. After the Respawn Entertainment studio had proven itself withTitanfallandApex Legends, both of which were developed on game engines other than Frostbite,Jedi: Fallen Orderbroke the mold for EA’sStar Warsgames. The game was strictly a singleplayer Jedi-fueled RPG, severely different from EA’s usual wheelhouse of multiplayer live-service games. Even though the game ended up releasing too little, too late for EA, it helped retain theStar Warsgaming fans who were ready to burn the bridge from EA’s exclusivity.
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EA No Longer Holds a Monopoly Over the Star Wars IP In Games
However, the unfortunate reality is EA’s reputation was sullied to the point that these kinds of games were made out of desperation, rather than creative drive. That’s not to say the developers at Respawn Entertainment didn’t want to makeFallen Order. Rather, EA wasn’t willing to green light that type of project because it wasn’t anything remotely like its most successful live-service games. This is evidenced bythe manyStar Warsgames that EA has notably cancelled, such as Visceral Games’Project RagtagandYuma. Obviously now it’s easy to say that, with this new context,Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderwas planned towards the end of EA’s exclusivity deal with Disney.
WithoutStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderproving thatStar Warsgames didn’t need to be live-service powerhouses, games likeStar Wars: Squadronswouldn’t have existed. EA losing the exclusive publishing rights forStar Warsisn’t going to put these kinds of games in jeopardy, even if that could change in the future. The reforming of Lucasfilm Games simply means EA has less of a monopoly onStar Warsas it once had prior. Plus, additional Lucasfilm properties andLucasArts franchises can now (potentially) return as well. EA will still have the opportunity to makeStar Warsgames, but other creative minds now have the chance to makeStar Warsgames as well.
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