EA shuts down Visceral Games

In a move that will only surprise people that haven’t heard of Electronic Arts before, EA has shuttered yet another studio. What is surprising is that the studio in question is Visceral Games. Visceral were hard at work on an eagerly awaited Star Wars game, with Amy Hennig spearheading development.

This was exciting because it was believed to be the re-birth of Star Wars 1313, which looked amazing but was binned once LucasArts ceased to be an actual developer and simply turned into a licensing operation. It was also exciting because Amy Hennig was one the major leaders of the Uncharted series. It was meant to be so perfect. Alas, it was simply not meant to be at all.

Takeaways:

• Visceral Games were most well known for the Dead Space series.
• This is the latest developer that EA has closed down. EA is infamous for doing this and have a section of their Wikipedia page dedicated to studios they’ve shuttered.
• Amy Hennig was brought onboard to direct Visceral’s ‘Uncharted-like’ Star Wars game. Her future with EA remains up in the air.
• This looks like EA is moving away from single-player story-driven games in a big way. The game itself is not ‘dead’ but instead, development will ‘pivot’ to be multiplayer focused.
• We have no idea who’s making this Star Wars game now. Good luck to them though.

The game itself hasn’t been cancelled but has instead seen the design take a ‘pivot’. An EA spokesperson said:

“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.”

So there it is. EA close down another studio, the ‘marketplace’ has decided that single-player games don’t make enough money and this Star Wars game, which started off as the hotly anticipated Star Wars 1313, now looks like a poisoned chalice.

All the best to those at Visceral affected. Dead Space was dope.

Source: Polygon