Electronic Arts acquires the Star Wars license

[Matt]

The Walt Disney Company and EA Announce Multi-Year Star Wars Games Agreement

BURBANK & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.

Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.

“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 our fans around the world.”

“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. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

[Diddly]

UGH

Get ready for half assed games and the "privilege" of paying insane amounts of money for Downloadable Content ranging from levels that finish the game ($20 minimum) to alternate lightsaber colors ($5 per color)

[Scockery]

UGH

Ultimate Galactic Hunt will be part of this? 

Actually Electronic Arts announced their own collectible program.

C.ompletely
R.ecycled
A.ctivision
P.roduct

[Jesse James]

I'm still not seeing how this is ANY different from the SW games we've been getting since the late 1990's, haha.  Honestly it's like the new films....  I'm open to seeing what they do.  If it sucks, it's just more of the same.  If not, I'll always have fond memories of the OT (or in the analogy, LA original titles in the early-mid 90's).

It is what it is...  EA does some decent stuff, and crap stuff, and we'll see how it goes. 

[Qui-Gon Jim]

Well said, Jesse.  It isn't like Lucasarts has raised the bar in recent years.

[Jesse James]

I have to dust off Republic Commando or my Gamecube to have good semi-recent SW gaming experiences...  Every time I think about that I'm just a bit dejected.  I'm open to this...  I think EA may do some great stuff.  Give it time.  It's a big property...  you never know.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

I'd love for them to revive the Rogue Squadron series.

[Jesse James]

As much as I found the RS games ok, I think they'd be far further ahead doing a new flight sim than what ultimately I think would be a flash in the pan on a console.  I think it'd have more life ultimately.  Flight sims still are popular PC games ultimately.

[shmashwitdaclub]

I for one am glad I am held off from selling my stock in EA - I thought SWTOR would have done wayyy better than what it did. this can only mean good things for stock prices imo

  I just looked up prices and they are indeed up up up   

[Matt]

The best Star Wars game of this entire generation was made out of Legos.  That's why neither of the recent stories involving the license bother me.  Looking forward to seeing what DICE and especially Visceral have planned.

[Jesse James]

Yup.  I'm in the same mood as that...  It is what it is, and maybe they'll do something cool.  My greatest hope is they do new flight sims, but that's so unlikely I'm  not counting on it.  My 2nd greatest hope is they do great FPS's that DON'T rely on MP, but have a compelling cohesive SP story that fits into EU...  I'm cool with them going Halo copy route.  I want a SP experience though.