EA Shuts Down Visceral Games

[Flawless]

Another single player focused Star Wars title bites the dust. Dead Space creators Star Wars game will be revamped.

https://www.ea.com/news/an-update-on...r-wars-project

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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. This move leads to a few other changes: A development team from across EA Worldwide Studios will take over development of this game, led by a team from EA Vancouver that has already been working on the project. Our Visceral studio will be ramping down and closing, and we’re in the midst of shifting as many of the team as possible to other projects and teams at EA. Lastly, while we had originally expected this game to launch late in our fiscal year 2019, we’re now looking at a new timeframe that we will announce in the future.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Was this the "spiritual successor" to 1313?

[Picci]

I'm sure investors will be pleased and at ease that EA Canada (or known as Vancouver) will lead the project going forward. It is their flagship.

[Flawless]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

Was this the "spiritual successor" to 1313?

Pretty much. Both were said to be along of the lines of an Uncharted. Now from reading the statement put out, it's pretty clear what it will become.

[Flawless]

EA also meddled with Dead Space 3 and ruined that franchise.

Eurogamer - The Dead Space 3 the developers wanted to make

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiQiF9Wt2lM

• More survival horror
• Less action
• No micro-transactions
• Focus on dementia and psychosis
• More complex crafting system

[Fresh Tendrils]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

Pretty much. Both were said to be along of the lines of an Uncharted. Now from reading the statement put out, it's pretty clear what it will become.

Great. We'll never even catch a whiff of what they game should have been.

[Flawless]

Waypoint: Today's Star Wars News Makes the Future of Single-Player Look Very Messy

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There are few brands in the world that can compete with Star Wars. Marvel? Disney? (It's not a coincidence all three—Star Wars, Marvel, Disney—are owned by the same company.) If there was a fictional universe with enough fandom to give a game publisher confidence it could support an expensive game aimed at players looking to experience a good story and move on, you'd think it would be Star Wars. And yet, here we are. That game is no more. "God, I love 'em," said Epic Games public relations manager Nick Chester on Twitter, as folks tried to make sense of EA's news, "but [big] budget, large scale, AAA, story driven games are expensive and risky to make. A huge IP doesn't guarantee a win."

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The first response that many, including yours truly, had to EA's announcement was "Oh, they want their own Destiny." Granted, the EA-owned BioWare announced its own Destiny-like game at E3 this year, Anthem, but Anthem remains a risk. It's a new property with a new universe, and players might reject it. You can imagine how compelling the notion of a Destiny-like game with the Star Wars license would be to EA. It's an endless pit of money, one where even a mediocre attempt would have a higher potential to become a cash cow.

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A lot of single-player games haven't sold to expectations in the past year or so, including Prey, Dishonored 2, Resident Evil 7, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and others.

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There are exceptions to every rule, of course. How to explain The Witcher 3, a game with arguably too much content, yet none of the gross monetization hooks? "AAA non service / single player games can succeed," said Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter, "but they really need to be the best in the genre and executed perfectly." He's probably right. The Witcher 3, and games like it, are an aberration. (It will also be interesting to see if CD Projekt RED's next game, Cyberpunk 2077, will resist the siren call.) Same with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Or Super Mario Odyssey. Actually, maybe Nintendo should just make more games? (It probably helps they don't aim for photorealism.)

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The most upsetting takeaway might be an uncomfortable truth: without loot boxes, or opportunistic ideas like it, maybe these games can't exist.

[LambertandHam]

Another studio claimed by EA. Bioware, Maxis, Criterion, Mythic, Westwood...