Right after Electronic Arts announced The Sims 4 for 2014, the company said it had entered into an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to produce new games based on the Star Wars universe. The company said that along with BioWare -- which is already developing for the franchise -- Battlefield series developer DICE and Dead Space series developer Visceral will create new titles as part of the agreement.
According to EA, the new wave will focus on the core gaming market and span multiple platforms including consoles, PCs, tablets, mobile and more. They will also be entirely original despite the movie-based subject matter, and use the Frostbite 3 development engine, guaranteeing "incredible graphic fidelity, environments and characters."
"Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe," said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. "Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay."
Disney's Lucasfilm arm also said via the Star Wars website on Monday that while EA will develop titles for the core gaming audience, Disney Interactive will focus on casual audiences for mobile, social, tablet, and online gaming platforms.
"This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come," said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. "Collaborating with one of the world's premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to fans around the world."
News of new Star Wars titles from EA and Disney Interactive arrives after Disney decided to cease developing Star Wars games via LucasArts and focus on licensing deals instead.
"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games," Disney said. "As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."
We expect to see and hear additional information about the upcoming games next month during E3 2013. Lucasfilm promised that more information, including titles in development, will be announced in the coming months, so stay tuned.
