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EA shuts down Visceral, moves Star Wars game to EA Vancouver/others

Can't have a linear single player game that gamers just play with and be happy and done with. Need that progresssion chase in all games. Progress bars ain't gonna fill themselves.

I think I'm happy just following what gets released on GOG nowadays, rather then this (clearly successful) nonsence.
 

Tunoku

Member
Oh for fuck's sake. It was probably the only interesting project coming from a main EA studio, and don't tell me that everything's gonna be fine at EA Vancouver now.
 
It's weird that the very same EA is cool with publishing such a linear and story focused looking title like "A way out"

I guess they want maximum profit with the Star Wars license.

A way out probably costs a fraction of what a AAA Star Wars game would cost to produce.
 

Audioboxer

Member
EAGunshottobackofheadmemethathasalreadybeenposted.jpg

Best of luck everyone involved.

Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.

EA: A story based linear adventure game? This won't do for GaaS. It needs to be always online, have loot boxes and somehow lend it's hand to lots of MTs. Linear story games? We can't riddle those as easily with bullshit. Goodbye.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
The predictability and frequency of killing studios at EA is insane. It's gambling with your livelihood as a studio.
 

mas8705

Member
Yet another group gets buried by EA.

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Hope those with Visceral get to find work elsewhere that isn't with another EA affiliated group.
 
If hope MS goes after Amy.

They badly need a new studio.

This is the last thing I want to happen.

Microsoft needs studios in general, but look at the slew of new IP they have cancelled over the years.

I'd rather Amy go somewhere with better odds of seeing her work actually come to fruition.
 

Navid

Member
Wow, that came out of nowhere... though I guess that explains it not showing up at E3.

Some parts of that statements reads to me as; we were taking too much time/money making a single player game and these days publishers only wants "live service games".
 

firelogic

Member
Poor Amy though, she lost Uncharted 4 and now she's losing Star Wars.

To play the other side, what Amy was cooking up for Uncharted 4 sounded terrible. Everyone has their down moments. She isn't going to be perfect forever. Maybe what she had in mind for the SW game also sucked. And the game Visceral was making to go with the story sucked too. If EA continued on this track and released it and it turned out terribly, you'd be cursing EA saying they shouldn't have released it. So they suck for cancelling a troubled game and they'd also suck if they let Visceral finish and release a terrible game.
 
Man, the brief glimpse we had wasn't much but it showed off a sliver of artistic vision that looked really solid. And the description of a linear action-adventure game sounds like Star Wars Uncharted. Everyone wants Star Wars Uncharted.

I'm not necessarily going to get on their ass about it, though. Honestly who is to say the project wasn't failing? Maybe it just wasn't coming together. Shutting the whole studio down seems drastic, though. Hope everyone lands on their feet.

The statement about telling "a star wars story" rather than making any specific reference to this star wars story all but confirms the whole thing is getting scrapped. It's not getting transferred, Vancouver is just going to start a new game and cannibalize what they can. This is carefully crafted PR speak.

The rest of the statement sounds like they want to pump another open world DLC party out of the factory. Could still turn out good, but we know the pitfalls of that current gaming trend.
 

inky

Member
I dread for Bioware <span class="emoji-outer emoji-sizer"><span class="emoji-inner" style="background: url(chrome-extension://immhpnclomdloikkpcefncmfgjbkojmh/emoji-data/sheet_apple_64.png);background-position:2.0833333333333335% 33.333333333333336%;background-size:4900%" data-codepoints="2639"></span></span>

Why? They are safe with their Destiny clone. They will never make anything but Anthem again tho (after/if DA releases)
 

mdubs

Banned
Poor Amy though, she lost Uncharted 4 and now she's losing Star Wars.

Judging by Blood, Sweat and Pixels, the Amy version of Uncharted 4 was an unfocused mess that probably would have had a hard time getting on track to see the light of day.
 

Ennosuke

Member
Damn a linear SP would have been amazing. I am usually very relaxed when it comes to EA, but dam this time I am really angry.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
It's all clicking in my head now. Tin foil hat doesn't feel so tin anymore. Mike Laidlaw left BioWare because he didn't want Dragon Age 4 to become a GaaS-centric experience. And it probably will be.

Meanwhile, the other of two games I was far and away most hyped about -- an Amy Hennig Star Wars experience -- is wrecked and the studio behind it is closing down, leaving plenty of people jobless no matter what EA wants to say to the contrary.

Today is a day that will live in infamEA.
 
Yeah, I mean Amy is a story teller first and foremost...I doubt she had much excitement about making a loot shooter.
I doubt she was told she'd be making a loot shooter when she signed on, though. She probably spent several years developing a proper single-player experience and then they decided that they wanted something more loot box-able.

This is the last thing I want to happen.

Microsoft needs studios in general, but look at the slew of new IP they have cancelled over the years?

I'd rather Amy goes somewhere with better odds of seeing her work actually come to fruition.

MS similarly seems to have no interest in making as "pure" an SP experience as Uncharted. That's the whole reason why the fucked Scalebound like they did.
 

RulkezX

Member
EA have really mismanaged their SW license.

2013 they announced they'd won them and all we have are 2 shitty skinned battlefield games.
 

tuxfool

Banned
Can Disney take Star Wars exclusivity away from EA and give it to someone else please.

Fund another studio within CDPR and have them develop a quality game. I don't know. But I simply don't understand how happy could they be with the mishandling of the franchise in the games department.

No. They have a deal for X numbers of years.
 
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