As you might have heard a little while back, Electronic Arts has shut down Visceral Games, the developer that was working on its new Star Wars action/adventure game. Now the direction of its development will shift to a new studio, EA Vancouver, leaving fans concerned about the future of the video game franchise.
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With that, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson decided to provide a few answers regarding the closure of the studio, as well as what the team has in mind for the Star Wars project moving forward.
First, he talked about the closure of the studio. “Anytime you close a studio, it’s a very, very tough decision and something that we take very seriously. We spend a lot of time working through before we make such a decision. But it does happen from time to time as part of the creative process.”
Next, he talked about the Star Wars game that was in the works, and what will be changing with it. “During the development process of the game they were working on, we’ve been testing the game in concert with players, listening to feedback in terms of what and how they wanted to play. And really tracking that closely with fundamental shifts in the marketplace. We are seeing an evolution in the marketplace, and it became clear to us that to deliver an experience that players wanted to come back and enjoy for a long time, that we needed to pivot the design.
“You may have heard the conversation around single-player versus multiplayer or single-player versus live service. [The decision to close Visceral and shift the focus of their Star Wars game] wasn’t about that conversation. It wasn’t about, ‘This was just a single-player game [and it] needed to be a live service.’ It was more about, ‘How do we get to a point where the overall gameplay experience was right for players.’ We still believe strongly in the Star Wars IP.”
Finally, he added that he liked the assets that were put into place by Visceral for the Star Wars game. He did note that he would like to see them potentially used for the new version of the game, but didn’t confirm anything.
