Alex Andy Phuong
Benjamin Alexander
Aidan McGuire
Lucia H. Miller
Cassandra LaiThe History of Star Wars Video Games (and an Unknown Future)
In 2013, EA signed a deal with Disney to be the only Star Wars video games publisher and developer. Since EA acquired the rights, they’ve released two games, both in the relaunched series Star Wars Battlefront. Neither of which was well received. And with the debacle of Star Wars Battlefront II’s pay to win nonsense, gamers aren’t too excited for what the future of EA Star Wars games holds. So, how did we get here?
Star Wars Games in the Beginning
We’ve played Star Wars games since Star Wars has been a thing. With every movie release comes a tie-in game, which is often terrible but sometimes okay. However, the first good Star Wars game came in the form of Super Star Wars on the SNES. The Escapist Magazine said about the game: “It was arguably the best movie-to-video game adaption until Goldeneye 007 arrived five years later…”
Super Star Wars, released in 1992, featured similarly difficult gameplay as other platformers on the system. Since people were used to difficult platforming games on Nintendo’s consoles, Super Star Wars checked all the boxes to be successful on SNES.
On the PC side of things, we were treated to Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: Tie Fighter, both feature spaceship flying gameplay designed to make you feel like Luke flying the X-Wing in A New Hope as he destroys the first Death Star.
Soon after that, we got the Star Wars: Dark Forces and Star Wars Jedi Knight games on PC and sometimes released on console. This series kicked up the story-telling notch of the Star Wars video games. We were presented with new characters to love and force powers to use.
Star Wars Games After 2000
In 2003, Bioware, before they were acquired by EA, released the beloved Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The RPG features Dungeons and Dragons based combat and an engaging story. In the game, you play as an amnesia-stricken Jedi trying to find his place in a world wrought with war. The game spawns one of the most iconic Star Wars video game characters, Darth Revan. Our introduction to the character surprises and delights much like the revelation of Darth Vader.
Just two years later, we got Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords developed by Obsidian Entertainment, but the game wasn’t received well and sold fewer copies. However, it is constantly recognized as one of the better Star Wars games, especially with a content fix of the Sith Lords Restored Content Mod found on Steam.
The same year that Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords launched, we also received the incredibly fun and engaging Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. The first game in a long series to come focused on the prequel trilogy and featured gameplay from each of those movies. You can play pretty much every Star Wars movie in video game form through the Lego Star Wars series.
In the meantime, there were a variety of other Star Wars video game titles, including one MMO (massively multiplayer online), Star Wars Galaxies, before EA acquired the rights to the entire franchise. The last non-EA game, outside of Lego, was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.
EA Acquires the Rights to All Star Wars Games
As mentioned earlier, EA acquired the rights to all Star Wars games for a period of ten years, according to Gamerant.
This deal came in 2013, a year after the game developer LucasArts announced Star Wars 1313, which was supposedly focused on Boba Fett in childhood. Unfortunately, the announcement of the EA/Star Wars game deal also canceled Star Wars 1313, much to the gaming communities dismay. As a result of the acquisition, EA announced its first game as part of the deal to be Star Wars Battlefront, a remake of the mid-2000s series sharing the same name.
People loved the previous iterations of the game, and the gaming world was beyond excited about what the game developer DICE would do with the property. DICE is known for its FPS series Battlefield. When Star Wars Battlefront released, the mechanics of Battlefield permeated the gameplay. Polygon said that “It’s not Battlefield, but it does feel like a distant cousin.”
Two years later, DICE released Star Wars Battlefront II, which included highly controversial gaming microtransactions. Battlefront II was a complete disaster that sold far fewer copies than the original remake and received less favorable reviews across the board.
Since then, we’ve yet to receive another Star Wars game. We are stuck with two less than fantastic shooters, whereas in the 1990s we would have a game in different genres every year, including both single player and multiplayer options.
Outside of Battlefront, EA announced two games in development featuring the Star Wars brand. Before they closed, EA’s Visceral Games was working on a Star Wars game focused on presenting a thrilling narrative and adventure. Jason Schreier of Kotaku called it a “Star Wars take on Uncharted.” The game was being written by Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame and developed by the team responsible for the Dead Space series. There was a lot of hype surrounding the game, and it seemed like a recipe for success…until it was canceled in late 2017.
In a blog post on their company website, EA said that “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.” However, we don’t know much past that, not even a release date. We are stuck with Battlefront for now.
Star Wars Games in the Future
In early 2018, Cinelinx reported that Disney was discussing possibilities for games to be developed outside of EA. Jordan Maison, from Cinelinx, writes “According to them [multiple sources], Disney/LFL higher ups pulled EA to the ‘principal’s office’ to talk about what’s going wrong. Moreso, they’ve apparently reached out to both Ubisoft and Activision about developing Star Wars games.”
Maison points out that “Fans are understandably disappointed and worried.” We need to go back in time to find success for Star Wars games. If the reports are true and Disney is discussing with multiple publishers, then eventually we’ll start getting good Star Wars games again.
However, game development takes time and it’s not something to be rushed. I hope that Disney learned a valuable lesson when choosing to only work with one publisher.
I think that in order for success to exist in games, there needs to be competition. The market can sustain a Star Wars movie every year for eternity. Especially so if NerdMuch is accurate with their predictions. There is no downside for Disney if multiple studios are working on Star Wars games. Given enough time, we could see a Star Wars game release every year.
Want to start sharing your mind and have your voice heard?
Join our community of awesome contributing writers and start publishing now.
Jennifer Shreve
Christopher A. Bruno
Follow
Must Read
ENGAGE IN THE CONVERSATION
The History of Star Wars Video Games (and an Unknown Future)
By Tim-Stover05
In 2013, EA signed a deal with Disney to be the only Star Wars video games publisher and developer. Since EA acquired the rights, they’ve released two games, both in the relaunched series Star Wars Battlefront. Neither of which was well received. And with the debacle of Star Wars Battlefront II’s pay to win nonsense, gamers aren’t too excited for what the future of EA Star Wars games holds. So, how did we get here?
Star Wars Games in the Beginning
We’ve played Star Wars games since Star Wars has been a thing. With every movie release comes a tie-in game, which is often terrible but sometimes okay. However, the first good Star Wars game came in the form of Super Star Wars on the SNES. The Escapist Magazine said about the game: “It was arguably the best movie-to-video game adaption until Goldeneye 007 arrived five years later…”
Super Star Wars, released in 1992, featured similarly difficult gameplay as other platformers on the system. Since people were used to difficult platforming games on Nintendo’s consoles, Super Star Wars checked all the boxes to be successful on SNES.
On the PC side of things, we were treated to Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Wars: Tie Fighter, both feature spaceship flying gameplay designed to make you feel like Luke flying the X-Wing in A New Hope as he destroys the first Death Star.
Soon after that, we got the Star Wars: Dark Forces and Star Wars Jedi Knight games on PC and sometimes released on console. This series kicked up the story-telling notch of the Star Wars video games. We were presented with new characters to love and force powers to use.
Star Wars Games After 2000
In 2003, Bioware, before they were acquired by EA, released the beloved Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The RPG features Dungeons and Dragons based combat and an engaging story. In the game, you play as an amnesia-stricken Jedi trying to find his place in a world wrought with war. The game spawns one of the most iconic Star Wars video game characters, Darth Revan. Our introduction to the character surprises and delights much like the revelation of Darth Vader.
Just two years later, we got Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords developed by Obsidian Entertainment, but the game wasn’t received well and sold fewer copies. However, it is constantly recognized as one of the better Star Wars games, especially with a content fix of the Sith Lords Restored Content Mod found on Steam.
The same year that Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords launched, we also received the incredibly fun and engaging Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. The first game in a long series to come focused on the prequel trilogy and featured gameplay from each of those movies. You can play pretty much every Star Wars movie in video game form through the Lego Star Wars series.
In the meantime, there were a variety of other Star Wars video game titles, including one MMO (massively multiplayer online), Star Wars Galaxies, before EA acquired the rights to the entire franchise. The last non-EA game, outside of Lego, was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.
EA Acquires the Rights to All Star Wars Games
As mentioned earlier, EA acquired the rights to all Star Wars games for a period of ten years, according to Gamerant.
This deal came in 2013, a year after the game developer LucasArts announced Star Wars 1313, which was supposedly focused on Boba Fett in childhood. Unfortunately, the announcement of the EA/Star Wars game deal also canceled Star Wars 1313, much to the gaming communities dismay. As a result of the acquisition, EA announced its first game as part of the deal to be Star Wars Battlefront, a remake of the mid-2000s series sharing the same name.
People loved the previous iterations of the game, and the gaming world was beyond excited about what the game developer DICE would do with the property. DICE is known for its FPS series Battlefield. When Star Wars Battlefront released, the mechanics of Battlefield permeated the gameplay. Polygon said that “It’s not Battlefield, but it does feel like a distant cousin.”
Two years later, DICE released Star Wars Battlefront II, which included highly controversial gaming microtransactions. Battlefront II was a complete disaster that sold far fewer copies than the original remake and received less favorable reviews across the board.
Since then, we’ve yet to receive another Star Wars game. We are stuck with two less than fantastic shooters, whereas in the 1990s we would have a game in different genres every year, including both single player and multiplayer options.
Outside of Battlefront, EA announced two games in development featuring the Star Wars brand. Before they closed, EA’s Visceral Games was working on a Star Wars game focused on presenting a thrilling narrative and adventure. Jason Schreier of Kotaku called it a “Star Wars take on Uncharted.” The game was being written by Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame and developed by the team responsible for the Dead Space series. There was a lot of hype surrounding the game, and it seemed like a recipe for success…until it was canceled in late 2017.
In a blog post on their company website, EA said that “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.” However, we don’t know much past that, not even a release date. We are stuck with Battlefront for now.
Star Wars Games in the Future
In early 2018, Cinelinx reported that Disney was discussing possibilities for games to be developed outside of EA. Jordan Maison, from Cinelinx, writes “According to them [multiple sources], Disney/LFL higher ups pulled EA to the ‘principal’s office’ to talk about what’s going wrong. Moreso, they’ve apparently reached out to both Ubisoft and Activision about developing Star Wars games.”
Maison points out that “Fans are understandably disappointed and worried.” We need to go back in time to find success for Star Wars games. If the reports are true and Disney is discussing with multiple publishers, then eventually we’ll start getting good Star Wars games again.
However, game development takes time and it’s not something to be rushed. I hope that Disney learned a valuable lesson when choosing to only work with one publisher.
I think that in order for success to exist in games, there needs to be competition. The market can sustain a Star Wars movie every year for eternity. Especially so if NerdMuch is accurate with their predictions. There is no downside for Disney if multiple studios are working on Star Wars games. Given enough time, we could see a Star Wars game release every year.
