In a somewhat surprising turn of events, The Walt Disney Co. and Electronic Arts Inc. came to a deal which will allow EA to provide us with the future of Star Wars gaming. The deal is for “New” Star Wars games, leaving to question weather we will ever see some of the Lucas Arts highly anticipated titles. However, we are getting new Star Wars games, so I am pretty excited.
The exclusive multi-year agreement, EA will be able to develop Star Wars games for “all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres” related to “Star Wars.” Disney still holds the rights for mobile, social, and other platforms.
“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,” said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive
Frank Gibeau, EA Labels President, stated:
“Every developer dreams of creating games for the ‘Star Wars’ universe, three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for ‘Star Wars’ fans.”
There is no news on whether the Lucas Arts staff will come aboard to help with the new games, or if EA will assign a brand new team and provide us with a new perspective. I hope some of the Lucas Arts staff members find homes within EA, but I fear that the constant struggle for Lucas Arts to stay afloat over the last few years will prevent that from happening.
Although I am very excited about the possibilities of future Star Wars games, I have to wander what this means for us Nintendo fans. It is no secret that Electronic Arts and Nintendo are not exactly in a Luke and Han relationship, but rather a Han and Lando friendship. Sure, they are on speaking terms, but they aren’t exactly BFFs. We have already seen EA push Nintendo to the side with the decision not to launch Madden on the Wii U. I hope that EA does not continue to ignore Ninty. If they do, I say we do our best Jar Jar impressions and constantly annoy EA, as fans, until we get what we want!
In the end, I think that EA will be a perfect fit for the Star Wars gaming franchise. My only wish is for them to keep the Star Wars games unique, and not a copy of Call of Duty, or a Need for Speed clone for Pod Racers and/or Speeder bikes. What do you want to see in the Star Wars game future? Do you think that Nintendo will get soem EA love, and if not, who will shoot first?
