The history of Star Wars video games is much more complicated than you would expect. Not unlike many IPs that go from live-action TV shows/movies to video games, there’s a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t. Furthermore, you need to work with the technology of the time to see if you can make a meaningful game. Sadly for the galaxy far, far away, their video game history is full of “let’s just throw it out there and see if it works” versus trying to make something special and pushing for new things.
One of the groups that haven’t helped the cause in various ways is Electronic Arts. They made a deal with LucasArts many years ago to exclusively handle the franchise, and the results have been both mixed and non-existent. By that, we mean how the Battlefront franchise was controversial at points. The Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor games were great, and other promised titles never got off the ground, like with the KOTOR remake.
However, during an earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson not only praised what his team has done but feels they’ll be a part of the “galaxy” for a long time:
“Yeah, we don’t have anything to announce today, but, you know, we have an incredible partnership with Disney and Lucas. We’ve had incredible success in that partnership across the Battlefront and the Star Wars Jedi franchises and absolutely with Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Our teams are always thinking about what are new experiences that we might be able to create.
Certainly, I would love to see more in the in the Jedi franchise over time. It’s just an extraordinary game that tells an extraordinary story. We may be a little biased, but our sense based on the feedback we’re getting from our community and the quality of the product, is that it’s one of the great beats in the Star Wars Galaxy this year, and will likely continue to be a very meaningful part of that Galaxy for many years to come”
That’s certainly one way to phrase things, and we won’t take away some of the successes that they’ve had. But it’s clear which franchise has been more beloved than some of the others, and just as important, the most-anticipated game in the galaxy far, far away is coming from Ubisoft, not EA.
So hopefully, more developers may get the chance to dip their hands into this franchise so that more unique titles can be born from it.
