You wouldn’t think it, given the overwhelmingly positive reception heaped on last year’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but the license has caused EA intense trouble since acquiring it.
Back in 2013, Disney, desiring to outsource future development of all games set in a galaxy far, far away to a dedicated industry leader, handed the publisher total control in the sector. What should have been one of the most lucrative deals ever for EA, however, has resulted in just three releases in the seven years since, with only one managing to achieve both critical and commercial success.
Criticized for a lack of content and overvalued post-launch content, Star Wars Battlefront was followed in 2017 with a sequel that, despite remedying the problems of its predecessor, whipped up a storm of controversy due to a heavy emphasis on microtransactions and loot boxes. Only by giving Apex Legends creator Respawn Entertainment the reins has the company finally struck gold, but could the outcome have been any different?
By this point, EA’s decision to scrap two unannounced (officially, at least) Star Wars games – projects Ragtag and Orca – is common knowledge, but now, it seems a third attempt at capitalizing on one of the world’s most lucrative entertainment franchises was canned as recently as last year. That’s according to a new report published by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, at least, who says various sources close to the game, code-named Viking, have come forward to provide further insight.
Said to be a spinoff, of sorts, of the Battlefront series, Viking had been scheduled to release sometime in the fall of 2020, with development duties being shared between EA’s Vancouver studio and UK-based Criterion Games. As is all too often the case (BioWare’s Anthem is a perfect example) with long-distance, cross-country game development, however, it quickly became apparent to executives that the title wouldn’t meet completion deadlines. Viking was subsequently put to rest in early 2019.
Disappointing news, to say the least, then, though it’s not all doom and gloom. Given the outstanding success of Jedi Fallen Order, it looks as if EA may have already greenlit a sequel. See here for everything we know so far.
