Grave Gamer News & Views — episode vii

EA and Disney’s Star Wars Deal a Decade Long Dynasty

The partnership between video game publisher Electronic Arts and entertainment empire Disney to produce games based in the Star Wars universe is reportedly a ten year deal.

Despite an early scare in which Disney, having freshly plucked the rights to the multi-million dollar franchise from Lucasfilm, stated intentions to move Star Wars away from big budget console titles in favor of the mobile market, EA reinstilled our faith in the force at E3 by announcing it’d be bringing the Battlefront series back to life under DICE’s tutelage. The news was a welcome departure from the grim future Disney preemptively foretold.

Beyond Battlefront, EA’s financial officer Blake Jorgensen said fans should look forward to a wide breadth of games based not just in J.J. Abrams’ new trilogy but titles featuring the whole of the extended Star Wars universe. “The beauty of the Star Wars franchise is it’s so broad and so deep you don’t have to do a movie game,” said Jorgensen, speaking at the UBS Global Tech Conference. “You can do a game that’s very focused on the world that’s been created around Star Wars.”

That’s not to say this new slew of games won’t mine Episode VII and its sequels for inspiration. Future games will indeed use assets introduced in the new trilogy, though Jorgensen was careful to note EA doesn’t plan on rushing movie tie-in games to hit any one film’s theatrical release. “We’ll try to align [new titles] with that marketing power that Disney has, but it won’t necessarily be aligned with the movies.”

In addition to Battlefront aiming its blasters for a Summer 2015 launch, EA confirmed that DICE – you may already be enjoying their work on Battlefield 4 as we speak… which is rude, since you’re only half paying attention to this article –  has already laid the early foundations for a number of Star Wars titles, all of which are implied to dip into various genres.

I’d call this a verifiable Star Wars renaissance not seen since Episode I opened the floodgates back in ‘99. Rest assured, even if the new films are as eye-gougingly bad, like then, at least we’re bound to receive a few memorable games.

THE RULE OF TWO: Disney Acquires Star Wars

New Film Trilogy Announced and the Franchise’s Gaming Future Discussed

Fellow nerds, I come to you with big fucking news today.  It has been announced that family-friendly empire, The Walt Disney Company, has acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. to the tune of $4.05 billion.  The acquisition means Disney effectively owns all of the company’s assets – be it film production (including renown FX shop Industrial Light & Magic), merchandising rights, Harrison Ford’s gallstones, you name it.  As such, the entire property of Star Wars now belongs to Disney.

And Disney wasted no time in revealing their plans for the franchise, making it a point to announce that Star Wars Episode VII is set to release by 2015.  Yes, a full-fledged sequel to the first two trilogies is in the works.  What’s more, Disney intends on producing and distributing Episodes VIII and IX every other year afterwards while leaving the door open for further installments.  Your eyes and capacity for comprehension do not deceive you, friends.  Sweet Anakin’s ghost, we’re getting another trilogy.

Insight on the acquisition from George “The Beard” Lucas himself:

“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next.  It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.  I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.“

Like Disney’s buyout of Marvel, Lucasfilms’ day-to-day – headed by Kathleen Kennedy – will remain largely the same.  Similarly, all projects in development before the acquisition also continue unaffected.  On the gaming front that means LucasArts’ next-gen action title, Star Wars 1313, is still well under way (along with the rumored Star Wars: Frontline Assault).

Going forward, though, Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted that future game development would unfortunately focus more on the mobile/social gaming market rather than on consoles.  However, Iger does hint that he wishes to be opportunistic with console iterations, contracting third-parties to handle development duties when the need arises.  That may not sound too promising for console owners, but with three new feature films looking to expand the already storied mythos even more…Give it some time.  The games are sure to come.