EA lands multi-year Star Wars license. DICE, Visceral and BioWare games in dev

[Family Fry]

Well this is certainly a surprise.

The Walt Disney Company and EA Announce Multi-Year Star Wars Games Agreement

Deal will bring new Star Wars games to fans across the most popular gaming genres and platforms

BURBANK & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.

Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.

?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.

http://ea.newshq.businesswire.com/press-release/company-news/walt-disney-company-and-ea-announce-multi-year-star-wars-games-agreement

Bet that cost EA a **** ton.

[teddymeow]

So, a new KotoR for next gen consoles, then?

Maybe Visceral will pick up development of 1313?

DICE to make Battlefront 3?

[Guts]

Knights of the Old Republic 3, yes please.

And someone make a new X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter game already.

[originalbadboy]

Well this is certainly a surprise.

http://ea.newshq.businesswire.com/press-release/company-news/walt-disney-company-and-ea-announce-multi-year-star-wars-games-agreement

Bet that cost EA a **** ton.

Doesn't suprise me in the slightest, it was always going to go to either EA or Acti. At least we might now get a Frostbite powered Battlefront 3 now. In general I doubt it will make that much of a difference though, the same old crap will be released year on year anyway regardless.

At least it has gone to someone who has the money to do the license justice.

[Shozuki]

Who was behind 1313? Personally I wouldn't mind someone doing another stab at Force Unleashed the first one was kinda cool I thought... But that 2nd one... yuck...

[Cornflakes]

Who was behind 1313? Personally I wouldn't mind someone doing another stab at Force Unleashed the first one was kinda cool I thought... But that 2nd one... yuck...

Think 1313 was developed by an in-house team at lucasarts, so that game is probably on hold/dead. If 1313 makes it out to the market, it would be probably be a different game, unless EA hires the key people behind it, which i doubt.