Rumour: Disney/Lucasfilm contacts Ubisoft and Activision with regards to Star Wars license

[Julius]

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If you’re unhappy with the current state of Star Wars games from EA, you may not be the only one, and we have the skinny on the two publishers Disney may be looking at to take over/supplement.  Come inside for the full scoop! 

Electronic Arts snagged the exclusive license deal to create and publish Star Wars games all the way back in 2013. In the time since, however, EA has struggled with the property. The first game they announced (and released), Star Wars Battlefront, suffered backlash with its lack of single-player campaign; launching with such little content that many became bored quickly. Subsequent DLC packs added a lot of great content, but by the end, everyone was waiting to see what was next. 

Battlefront II brought only more problems; despite making changes at the last minute, the launch was pretty rocky, and the whole debacle has brought a wave of attention down on "loot boxes" in gaming (with some Governments looking to crack down on the practice). EA's latest financial statements have shown the impact with sales down and failing to meet expectations. 

Star Wars is dominating the big screen, comics, and novels once again, but it's lacking big time in the games department.  While the constant stream of mobile titles have been decent enough, they don't quite scratch the itch for many gamers. Originally Lucasfilm went to EA because it was such a large company with many developers under their control; so they could potentially deliver more Star Wars games in a quicker amount of time. Five years in and only two games released (one of which is a sequel), with a couple others barely announced, the investment isn't paying off like they wanted.

Late last year, Visceral shut down and their long-gestating story driven, Star Wars game,codenamed "Ragtag," was scrapped (although it's assets/engine will be used for another game). This was a major blow, considering it was supposed to be EA's big Star Wars release in 2018 (which is looking barren now). With only a handful of other games currently in development but not ready to show...Fans are understandably disappointed and worried. 

From what I've heard Lucasfilm is upset as well and looking for other options. I've had a couple sources reach out to me about the current state of Star Wars gaming. According to them, Disney/LFL higher ups pulled EA to the "principal's office" to talk about what's going wrong (which is what others have reported as well).  Moreso, they've apparently reached out to both Ubisoft and Activision about developing Star Wars games. 

I know what you're thinking, because I had the same thoughts. EA has a contract for the games, exclusively. How could Disney get around that without breaching and causing more problems? I don't know all the technical aspects of it, but supposedly there's an addendum of some kind within the contract that would allow Disney to pull the license, or shop it around, if certain standards/conditions weren't being met. This type of clause isn't unheard of when dealing with big licenses (and what's bigger than Star Wars?), and with all the problems and lack of games it doesn't surprise me in the least that they're looking elsewhere.

I hope more than anything that this is true. Star Wars is obviously enormous, and to give a company like EA exclusive rights to the video game license was always a silly idea. After the Battlefront II debacle, it always seemed likely that Disney/Lucasfilm would be pulling out of their exclusive relationship with EA.

The only major problem I see remaining between us and a great Star Wars game, if this does go through, would be with regards to how the Story Group communicates with the writers of the developing games, as this was supposedly  a huge problem with the development of Visceral’s Star Wars game.

But a potential Battlefront III by Activision and an open-world/space game by Ubisoft? Not my first choices, by any means, but the prospect excites me all the same  

[Hero-of-Time]

Even if such a thing did go ahead, we probably wouldn't see the fruits of such an arrangement until the next generation of consoles have been released.

It still baffles me how EA has completely mishandled the license. What's even more baffling is Factor 5 are sitting on a fully completed Star Wars game in the Rogue Squadron collection. Someone let them release it!

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, Rummy said:

You funny guy, you funny.

I wasn't talking about the microtransactions but more how they can't even release the games in a timely manner or come up with a good story driven game. Star Wars has an amazing wealth of characters and planets to explore but they somehow failed to tap into any of that. 

[Rummy]

19 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It still baffles me how EA has completely mishandled the license

You funny guy, you funny.

Weirdly I have faith in the production of a game from Disney/Lucas etc under the unified banner; even if the idea of so much of our popular entertainment media being under such a large banner isn't so reassuring 

Like could anything be worse than EA? Do you really think Disney/owners wouldn't have to try stepping in after the BF2 and microtransactions/pay to play debacle? It was kinda inevitable, Disney just needed to wait for it to die down  before stepping in to avoid major brand damage. My prediction would be to rest assured - this isn't an 'approach', they're gonna be getting it back.

(Soz, deleted my post by accident when trying to get an edit to work, so thought to just chuck it back up for matter of record so you don't look mad talking to yourself)

Also to follow that in response - I'm not a big SW fan(nothing against it) but I agree about EA, I wasn't just taking about them being useless on the microtransactions. Tbh I wasn't even just talking about them being useless on Star Wars either.

[Cube]

Considering the license expires around 2023, it would make sense that Disney would want a new publisher (if they were going to with someone else) to start planning their new games fairly soon. So it does seem like this is just something that would be happening anyway.

I don't think Disney could legally pull the license over something that they approved. 

[Julius]

12 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Even if such a thing did go ahead, we probably wouldn't see the fruits of such an arrangement until the next generation of consoles have been released.

It still baffles me how EA has completely mishandled the license. What's even more baffling is Factor 5 are sitting on a fully completed Star Wars game in the Rogue Squadron collection. Someone let them release it!

Yeah, I have to agree. Fortunately, Respawn might still be able to redeem EA somewhat (if that game’s still in development, that is).

And I have to agree with that, too. Star Wars games will sell well regardless, and EA already makes way too much money from FIFA Ultimate Team, yet they still decide to (attempt to) destroy these games with microtransactions, loot boxes, etc.

Has their own greed made them completely oblivious to the fact that for a great selling game you need a) an IP the audience/fans can invest in and b) A GOOD GAME?! They’re already halfway there just by having the Star Wars brand associated with the game. The money that they make elsewhere - namely Ultimate Team - is enough to more than please their shareholders and keep a “live game” well and truly alive without the need for microtransactions. 

I’d love to see the unreleased Factor 5 game come to Switch, but I think the possibility depends purely on the game’s contents and whether or not it clashes with canon. But hey, one could hope, right? 

[Julius]

27 minutes ago, Cube said:

I don't think Disney could legally pull the license over something that they approved. 

Well, they could. This is just a bunch of hearsay, as we don’t know what their contract with EA entails, but it depends entirely upon the contents of the contract; namely, any specified clauses.

It has been long speculated that Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm back in 2012, for instance, probably holds a bunch of clauses pertaining to Lucas’ poorly received works, potentially such as how the special editions are the only version of the original trilogy that Lucas wants out there, or how he doesn’t want the prequels remade, etc. Disney would then be contractually obligated to not rerelease the original versions of the films or remake the prequels.

Disney’s contract with EA could contain a clause which details something extremely specific, such as how Disney want X amount of games released in X amount of years. They could also be vague, such as EA acting unethically with their license (i.e.  the backlash to microtransactions, in particular the argument that it is gambling aimed at children, is something that Disney would of course want to distance themselves from). Failing to abide by such clauses, thereby failing to fulfill contractual obligations, could potentially see the license revoked, or EA’s exclusive video game rights to the franchise ceased. 

The contract is probably more along the lines of “These rights are exclusive to you until 2023 SO LONG AS you do/don’t do X, Y, Z,” rather than “These rights are exclusive to you until 2023, regardless of what you do”. 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Rummy]

13 minutes ago, Cube said:

Considering the license expires around 2023, it would make sense that Disney would want a new publisher (if they were going to with someone else) to start planning their new games fairly soon. So it does seem like this is just something that would be happening anyway.

I don't think Disney could legally pull the license over something that they approved. 

So you think this is just prepping for 2023? Given that Star Wars is such a huge brand for them atm(and imo Disney are one of the sinister kings of branding) and they the Battlefront stuff caused such public outrage and backlash that did damage aspects of the brand - as a parent company/licensor they would not be happy about that. Obviously I wouldn't be the only point to bring and the legals will be nitty gritty and technical and we don't know contract/license agreements in full etc - but this strikes me as the sort of thing that'll ultimately come down to lawyer Vs lawyer and when it comes to it Disney will probably win cos they've got the bigger size and money behind them to have the better opposition in a dispute. EA are big, and they're thrown their weight around on occasion due to it, I find it quite interesting to think they may be about to tangle with someone bigger than themselves.

[Julius]

Honestly, I think that the best approach would be to revive Lucasarts as a publisher, and contract developers on a game-by-game basis.

First person shooter? Call up Bungie, Bethesda, etc. Real time strategy? Creative Assembly, Relic Entertainment, etc. Immersive open world game? Give CDPR a go. Starfighter simulation? Factor 5 or Criterion (who did great with that part of BFII). Musou with lightsabers? Koei Tecmo.

Having the Star Wars video game rights exclusive to one third party publisher is like giving all of the Star Wars films to one director. It’s just not a good idea.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Cube]

It needs to be like LucasArts from before 2006. They became pretty rubbish after that,

[Nolan]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

 I don't think Disney could legally pull the license over something that they approved. 

Disney had copyright law changed on account of a mouse. They’ll do what they want same as they always have. 

And as already mentioned in the thread it’s highly unlikely that this exclusive contract is ironclad in EAs favor to where Disney couldn’t break it under certain parameters. 

Hell they could probably successfully break it just because of loot boxes and claim defamation of their intellectual property (gambling towards kids). 

[Julius]

19 minutes ago, Cube said:

It needs to be like LucasArts from before 2006. They became pretty rubbish after that,

Whilst I agree, I think the biggest problem standing in the way of that happening is the new canon. Lucasarts was a lot more lenient prior to the completion of the prequel trilogy in 2005, looking back, and I think that leniency and creative licence allowed developers to come up with great games.

I haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic, nor a slew of other Star Wars games, which I’ll get to eventually I hope, but I got thousands of hours out of the original Battlefront games, and have spent a lot of time in Republican Commando too. Battlefront II didn’t have the most story heavy campaign, and was more or less just a bunch of objectives on a ticklist, but it still told a very interesting story through the eyes of a 501st Legion Clone trooper, and, perhaps most importantly: it felt like it had heart and a lot of passion pumped into it. The story felt personal because I was playing as a blank slate clone trooper in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war which quickly takes a dark turn, and I could project onto the character because of this. In contrast, Commando’s companion characters are quirky and completely individual to one another, despite being clones.

Compare that to EA’s Battlefront games, and they’re both cold and paint-by-numbers by comparison, even if they do capture the visual and audio cues of Star Wars with little fault. Iden Versio is something of a composite character, which simply does not work, and her being given a name and a less-than-generic face makes it extremely difficult to project onto: she’s difficult to like. 

Star Wars, above all else, is about using its characters, it’s spectacle and it’s duality of right and wrong, and the slither inbetween and outside of that duality, to teach invaluable life lessons to its audience. It was never just about telling a story: it was about relaying relatable archetypes and motivations to generations of people who wanted someone to empathise with. 

So, in the case of Star Wars, personally, if I don’t like the character and I can’t understand their motivations, I’m not going to invest myself in them. In terms of a single player video game experience, this means I simply will not enjoy the game or the story that they’re trying to tell.

They need to haul some of the best video game writers into the same room, like they did with some of the best film directors and writers for their slate of films, and pay them handsomely to tell a refreshing and interesting story a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. 

[Dcubed]

Would be beautiful, poetic justice for how much EA have screwed up with the license.  Probably won't happen for quite some time though.

 

While I wouldn't exactly be ecstatic about Activision or Ubisoft nabbing the license, they'd both surely be a darn sight better than EA! And probably much more willing to work with outside partners and/or enable the re-release of past Star Wars games too.

 

Plus, you know, it would be a giant middle finger to EA, so I'd naturally be all for it!

[Julius]

17 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

While I wouldn't exactly be ecstatic about Activision or Ubisoft nabbing the license, they'd both surely be a darn sight better than EA! And probably much more willing to work with outside partners and/or enable the re-release of past Star Wars games too.

Agreed that Activision + Ubisoft > EA, but I’m not too sure about the re-releases.

Disney/LFL would have final say on re-releasing titles, even if Ubisoft/Activision were much more willing to work with third parties to re-release games than EA (which I 100% would agree to be the case), but I don’t think they’d stand much of a chance, simply because they’re not part of the current canon. 

The canon is supposed to help in the coordination of the Star Wars timeline but, ironically, it’s the largest obstacle in the way of a narrative-focused Star Wars game, at least at this point. Small details such as “Is this ship around in this era?” and “Would his weapon be in mass circulation by this point?” are excellent for our immersion and for in-universe timelines, but they really do get in the way of a naturally flowing narrative in the event that the video game writers are writing things up, such as “This character is then given a DL-44 [Han Solo’s blaster]”, which then needs to be sent off to the Lucasfilm Story Group to confirm that that gun was in circulation at that point. They could take days, if not weeks, to respond, and if their response turns out to be “No, you can’t do that; that blaster wasn’t around at that point”, then a few weeks might have just been wasted on an entire narrative thread which won’t come to any sort of fruition.

If I recall correctly, this was the biggest problem with Amy Hennig’s and Visceral’s narrative-focused Star Wars game.

But yeah, I’m also on board with pretty much anything which shows EA that they’re doing things wrong via a middle finger standing tall.

Honestly, more than anything, I think I just want a tactical Star Wars games (SRPG or RTS). Set it way out in the future, or even just after the sequel trilogy, and it can all be treated as canon as we could be a cadet of some militia or navy playing our way through, and learning, the tactics of some of the galaxy’s greatest battles throughout all of the major eras. 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Dcubed]

4 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said:

Agreed that Activision + Ubisoft > EA, but I’m not too sure about the re-releases.

Disney/LFL would have final say on re-releasing titles, even if Ubisoft/Activision were much more willing to work with third parties to re-release games than EA (which I 100% would agree to be the case), but I don’t think they’d stand much of a chance, simply because they’re not part of the current canon. 

The canon is supposed to help in the coordination of the Star Wars timeline but, ironically, it’s the largest obstacle in the way of a narrative-focused Star Wars game, at least at this point. Small details such as “Is this ship around in this era?” and “Would his weapon be in mass circulation by this point?” are excellent for our immersion and for in-universe timelines, but they really do get in the way of a naturally flowing narrative in the event that the video game writers are writing things up, such as “This character is then given a DL-44 [Han Solo’s blaster]”, which then needs to be sent off to the Lucasfilm Story Group to confirm that that gun was in circulation at that point. They could take days, if not weeks, to respond, and if their response turns out to be “No, you can’t do that; that blaster wasn’t around at that point”, then a few weeks might have just been wasted on an entire narrative thread which won’t come to any sort of fruition.

If I recall correctly, this was the biggest problem with Amy Hennig’s and Visceral’s narrative-focused Star Wars game.

Disney as a whole have actually been really good about re-releases of their old licensed titles in recent years.  Stuff like Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, the Disney Afternoon Collection, the Kingdom Hearts re-releases...

 

While Lucasfilm might be controlling in regards to new games being made, I reckon that Disney will actually be quite supportive of re-releases of older titles.  The Super Star Wars port (of the previously un-released PC version) on PS4 happened under their jurisdiction after all.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Dcubed

[Cube]

Disney also re-released a bunch of Star Wars games on Good Old Games, ported Knights of the Old Republic to Android/iOS, patched Knights of the Old Republic 2 (including making it much easier for people to install the Lost Content Mod), patched Battlefront 2 with new online servers and released Bounty Hunter on PS4.

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

Disney as a whole have actually been really good about re-releases of their old licensed titles in recent years.  Stuff like Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, the Disney Afternoon Collection, the Kingdom Hearts re-releases...

While Lucasfilm might be controlling in regards to new games being made, I reckon that Disney will actually be quite supportive of re-releases of older titles.  The Super Star Wars port (of the previously un-released PC version) on PS4 happened under their jurisdiction after all.

Perhaps.

Hey, I’d love to see some of the older games re-released, so I hope that it’s not coming across that I don’t want them! 

I’m just not personally optimistic about the possibility. I mean, Super Star Wars and some of the other games (I think Pod Racer Revenge, Bounty Hunter and Jedi Starfighter too) did make it over to PS4 - can’t believe I forgot that, considering that they were bundled in with mine! - but they seem to all tell general stories which, if I recall correctly, don’t exactly go directly against any canonical information out there (yet). On the the hand, re-releasing, say, Battlefront II, could potentially be a problem as some of it’s story does go directly against some of the events fleshed out in the new canon (besides the fact that it’s clearly the superior Battlefront II game and would cannabilise EA’s Battlefront II sales).

I think digital re-releases of some games are a distinct possibility, but I’m just not sure whether it’s something they’ll dive back into doing wholeheartedly. The more time that passes, the tighter the leash seems to become on the release of non-canonical Star Wars materials, but slap a ‘Legends’ banner across it like this...

...and they could easily be in business.

[Cube]

3 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said:

On the the hand, re-releasing, say, Battlefront II, could potentially be a problem as some of it’s story does go directly against some of the events fleshed out in the new canon (besides the fact that it’s clearly the superior Battlefront II game and would cannabilise EA’s Battlefront II sales).

Disney patched the game to reactivate the online mode (which required a new system, as it was on GameSpy servers) a few weeks before the EA one came out. And the GOG releases included the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, which are very much against the new canon. 

[Julius]

1 minute ago, Cube said:

Disney patched the game to reactivate the online mode (which required a new system, as it was on GameSpy servers) a few weeks before the EA one came out. And the GOG releases included the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, which are very much against the new canon. 

Well, I think the original Battlefront II’s online was reactivated as something of a marketing ploy for EA’s Battlefront II. Didn’t work so well, in hindsight. 

Like I mentioned above, digital re-releases are certainly on the table, and as I forgot to mention: especially so on PC. Regardless of whether or not Dark Forces/Jedi Knight were included in the GOG releases, those games were already in mass circulation on PC prior to the GOG re-release; if anything, this just meant that Disney didn’t want fans getting into trouble for playing illegally acquired versions of the game. Nor were those games ever touted or marketed nearly as much as a more well known/physical re-release would need to be. 

Bounty Hunter might have been re-released on PS4, but it slipped in almost completely under the radar and was given very little marketing, if any at all. Reactivating the Battlefront II servers is great for fans, but it’s not exactly going to raise questions to fans who have already played the game about whether or not the game is canon.

Re-release Factor 5’s games, or any other major Star Wars EU game, with a big marketing push and then you’ll come across fans who might become confused as to what is and isn’t canon. The original Battlefront II, Bounty Hunter, and Dark Forces/Jedi Knight all have their own smaller communities these days who still play the games, which is great.

What I’m saying is that we likely aren’t going to see them do something like re-release Factor 5’s games exclusively on Nintendo Switch in physical form with a big promotional campaign. But digitally, via Virtual Console, fairly under the radar and unlikely to be introduced to fans who think that the events that aren’t in the movies that transpire are canon? That’s a completely different story. 

[Nolan]

Man, know what would be cool. A disclaimer towards the level of canon of a particular piece of media. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

I know a lot of people didn't enjoy it, but I had a great time with Battlefront. How EA managed to miss a clear open goal with Battlefront 2 is anyone's guess. I'm a bit tired of Star Wars at the moment, especially after the mishandling of BF2 and the disappointment that was The Last Jedi. I'd be quite content with either a break with Star Wars games (tbh, probably even films, too) and for the people in charge (whether that's Ubi or Activision or EA, at least as far as the games go) to take the time to get it right.

[somme]

Battlefront 2 was actually a much more enjoyable experience than the first one, which was still good. Shame the game's been lost under all the scandal.

Also a bit tired of Star Wars after The Last Jedi. It's going to take another really good movie to get me back into the franchise.

[Julius]

9 minutes ago, somme said:

Battlefront 2 was actually a much more enjoyable experience than the first one, which was still good. Shame the game's been lost under all the scandal.

Also a bit tired of Star Wars after The Last Jedi. It's going to take another really good movie to get me back into the franchise.

I agree. I think that the campaign is extremely barebones - and a bit VERY boring, honestly - but the core multiplayer experience is actually very enjoyable for the most part. Starfighter Assault could very easily be its own game, but the game does begin to feel extremely repetitive if you spend too long on a certain mode. Bringing command posts back is probably at the top of my wish list for Battlefront III, regardless of whether its EA making it.

However, one major problem that I had with my core experience - having knowledge of the scandal - was when I got killed by someone else and saw their cards. Instead of feeling humbled and fairly executed, almost any time that I saw someone with cards better than mine, my initial reaction was to blame my in-game death on their cards as opposed to their ability. Did they spend money on the game? Are they just luckier than me? Perhaps its just me, but it provides something of a distastefully bitter experience with people that you are supposed to be enjoying your time playing a game with.

I look forward to seeing how their recently announced major update overhauls the current system. 

I don't think that I'm necessarily tired of Star Wars, but I must admit that I'm feeling a little bit fatigued. I've taken a break from reading the books since TLJ, and though I'm still enjoying Rebels, which only has a few episodes left, it just isn't holding my interest as much right now. I wasn't that interested in SOLO anyways, but that trailer just seemed poorly constructed and didn't get me hyped at all, so I think the 18 month gap that Disney engineered between SOLO and IX couldn't have been better designed.