Electronic Arts (EA) has bought the rights to develop and publish video games based on LucasFilm’s Star Wars franchise that is now owned by Disney.
The deal will see EA umbrella studios Visceral Games (Dead Space), DICE (Battlefield) and BioWare (Knights of the Old Republic) all working on new Star Wars video games that are geared toward a “core gaming audience” and developed for all major gaming platforms. No details about what direction these games would be headed has been released at this time, other than they will draw upon the Star Wars films but feature all-new stories and narratives.
BioWare already has multiple Star Wars: KOTOR games under their belt and would likely continue developing MMO titles. DICE and Visceral Games have both been working primarily within the first-person shooter (FPS) space so it’s likely that one or both of those studios will deliver a Star Wars FPS shooter title that fans have been clamoring for.
George Lucas’ internal studio LucasArts had been the core developer of Star Wars video games until Disney closed the label down last month. With the closing projects such as Star Wars 1313 and an untitled FPS were effectively laid to rest.
If this deal was just signed then it will take at least a year before we see what DICE, Visceral Games and BioWare have up their sleeves in regards to breathing new life into Star Wars video games. Don’t be surprised if one of the studios is tasked with creating a companion game for the 2015 release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII.
