The Walt Disney Company has just announced that it is entering a deal with Electronic Arts to create new Star War games. Top EA studios Visceral, DICE and BioWare will work with Lucasfilm on the creation of new console, PC, mobile, and tablet games. Here’s the press release:
The Walt Disney Company (DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.
“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 our 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. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The part I find interesting is that they will be “entirely original with all new stories and gameplay,” though they “may borrow from films.” The deal doesn’t give EA complete control over all Star Wars video game titles, however: Disney will hold onto the right to develop and publish titles in the “mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.” It’s also not clear if EA will pick up on any of the titles that LucasArts was working on before it was shut down last month, including Star Wars 1313.
So what do you think?
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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