Electronic Arts Stock Takes A Hit Following Star Wars Delay, Visceral Games Closure

So, in case you missed the news yesterday, Visceral Games is closing its doors, and the Star Wars project it was working on alongside Uncharted writer Amy Hennig is now in the hands of a different Vancouver studio – with a much different focus than expected.

This has left many fans concerned, wondering if we would still see Hennig's vision, or if the game would be turned into something else entirely. But there are also a few investors taking notice, and they weren't too comfortable when the news affected the company's stocks.

According to CNBC, following the news that the Star Wars game now wouldn't see the light of day until at least fiscal year 2019, the company's stock dropped almost three percent Wednesday. That's a slight drop from the 42 percent that it's risen over the year, a surprising number considering the financial performance of Mass Effect: Andromeda. More than likely, the sports games have gotten EA through the year pretty well.

That said, analysts at Atlantic Equities still have high hopes for the yet unnamed Star Wars game, noting that it should sell somewhere around eight million copies. "While disappointing, this is not a view changer," it noted.

The company still believes that EA will have a strong fiscal year that year, with the FIFA World Cup on its way, and the company's yearly soccer game likely to take advantage of that special tournament. No plans have been revealed yet, but considering that EA has released World Cup games in the past, it's more than likely.

But EA should still have a strong Christmas this year. Along with a line-up of sports games already making the rounds, the company will have Star Wars: Battlefront II coming up next month, as well as Need For Speed Payback, which arrives just the week before. There's no word on the company's 2018 plans, aside from A Way Out and other small titles, but we should know more over the next few months.

For now, all eyes are on Battlefront II, which is expected to sell millions of copies and keep the popularity of the franchise going. We'll just have to see how things go when it arrives on November 17th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.