Electronic Arts announced this week that they have signed a multi-year licensing agreement with The Walt Disney Company that has resulted in EA becoming the exclusive developer and publisher of new games based on the Star Wars brand.
Neither company mentioned any specific Star Wars games as part of the deal (so, there has been no word yet on the ultimate fate of Star Wars 1313 or Star Wars: First Assault), however, EA has revealed that their upcoming licensed titles will “span all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres” and be focused on the “core gaming audience.” Disney has opted to retain “certain rights” to develop Star Wars games for mobile, social, tablet and “online game categories/”
“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said. “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.”
Regardless of the title (or the studio developing it) Gibeau later added that all of their upcoming Star Wars games will be powered by the powerful Frostbite 3 development engine. Considering that Frostbite 3 is the same engine behind the upcoming Battlefield 4, this last statement has resurrected hopes that the cancelled Star Wars: Battlefront III (or at least a new Electronic Arts version of it) might someday be released.
That is just a bit of wishful speculation on our part, but it never hurts to toss out a good idea… Battlefront III.
As soon as Electronic Arts announces the first game in their new Star Wars licensing deal we will let you know. In the meantime, make sure to drop a line in the comments with your suggestion as to what you would like to see come out of this deal.
