• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

EA shuts down Visceral, moves Star Wars game to EA Vancouver/others

CharmingCharlie

CharmingCharlie

Member
borges said:
12 being gently.
Click to expand...

Old enough to see what EA has done to once great studios that have created fantastic games I have cherished. But hey because I used the term "Evil Arseholes" I must be a child then, rather than angry that yet again EA steam rolls over another developer and is pushing the industry in a direction I do not wish it to go.

I mean EA has a rep for this. Whenever another big publisher closes a studio do you ever see people trot out the "Developer Pit of Death" meme for them ? No you don't it is exclusively a meme that gets trotted out when EA does it because EA does it that damn often.
 
B

Bishop89

Member
GIANKRATOS said:
Hope all the ex V employees will find a new job

ssm47ltc.png
Click to expand...

good on SMS
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Bronetta said:
EA had 4 years to produce something after acquiring the Star Wars license and all we have is half a game (Battlefront) to show for it.

At what point does the publisher take accountability for their incompetence?
Click to expand...
A)Is game development not more time consuming and expensive this gen
B)Is Battlefront 2 not coming out this year?
C)What arbitrary number of games should've been made in four years?

WillyFive said:
Yeah, and to think in an off-year inbetween Star Wars movies in 2001 we got six major console ones at one E3.
Click to expand...
Almost like game development was a lot less expensive and much faster 16 years ago or something. And ah yes, we would get TRUE classics before the dastardly EA, liek SW Obi-wan:
9DEn6Dd.png
 
P

Pizza

Member
Shit if they’re looking at “market trends” maybe we’re getting an open world sandbox Star Wars rpg, which actually sounds rad! Hopefully everyone at visceral lands on their feet

Also, EA should insource Kojima for a MGSV type of Star Wars game (from a gameplay standpoint)

Sneaking around imperial occupied planets and doing rebel shit sounds neat!
 
B

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Crossing Eden said:
A)Is game development not more time consuming and expensive this gen
B)Is Battlefront 2 not coming out this year?
Click to expand...

With all their cash and assets and studios, all they could muster out was 2 games in 4 years? So much for being one of the biggest publisher around.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Bronetta said:
With all their cash and assets and studios, all they could muster out was 2 games in 4 years? So much for being one of the biggest publisher around.
Click to expand...
Yea again, what arbitrary number of games should've been made by now? It's almost like cash doesn't magically make game development go faster. YES, two games in four years is incredibly reasonable. Have you not been paying attention to this industry at all?
 
S

Steel

Banned
Crossing Eden said:
Almost like game development was a lot less expensive and much faster 16 years ago or something. And ah yes, we would get TRUE classics before the dastardly EA, liek SW Obi-wan:
9DEn6Dd.png
Click to expand...

Ah yes, now we get one microtransaction infested mediocre series every 4 years or so rather than 4 good games out of 6. We're definitely in quality over quantity territory now.
 
W

wilsonda

Member
Basically this means that they are pivoting a single player story driven game to another genre that will sell better, aka multiplayer or online grind rpg... sad days
 
J

Joco

Member
EA's statement makes it sound like they thought this singeplayer Star Wars game wasn't going to be profitable enough and decided to turn Visceral's project into a Star Wars themed Anthem/Destiny/The Division. While killing Visceral.

Very disappointing news.
 
S

Sohaim

Member
that was unexpected, i hope everyone will be able to find new jobs soon, as for the Star Wars game, i hope it stays a SP experience.
 
W

WillyFive

Member
Crossing Eden said:
Almost like game development was a lot less expensive and much faster 16 years ago or something. And ah yes, we would get TRUE classics before the dastardly EA, liek SW Obi-wan:
9DEn6Dd.png
Click to expand...

And that year we got Rogue Leader.

Imagine a scenario where you only have Obi-Wan.

That one(1) Obi-Wan game.

For the next two years.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
nightstalker962 said:
Star Wars Obi Wan was still a better game over the shit EA puts out.
Click to expand...
Lol no.

Steel said:
Ah yes, now we get one microtransaction infested mediocre series every 4 years or so rather than 4 good games out of 6. We're definitely in quality over quantity territory now.
Click to expand...
Or two games in four years, one having a much better base package than the other.

WillyFive said:
And that year we got Rogue Leader.

Imagine a scenario where you only have Obi-Wan.

That one(1) Obi-Wan game.

For the next two years.
Click to expand...
Why focus on pointless hypotheticals? We know of two triple A games in development. They take longer to develop because they're more complex both in terms of what's under the hood and what's being rendered at one given time. Someone the other day had it right when they said that the cost to develop ONE battlefront 2017 map likely costs more than making all of the battlefront maps from two gens ago combined.

LastNac said:
That's one fine looking Strawman you got there...
Click to expand...
So how many games do YOU think should've been made in four years?
 
dottme

dottme

Member
Bronetta said:
With all their cash and assets and studios, all they could muster out was 2 games in 4 years? So much for being one of the biggest publisher around.
Click to expand...
You should look at the iOS and Android side too. They cover all the genre they can over there.
 
J

JeremyEtcetera

Unconfirmed Member
Crossing Eden said:
Lol no.


Or two games in four years, one having a much better base package than the other.


Why focus on pointless hypotheticals? We know of two triple A games in development. They take longer to develop because they're more complex both in terms of what's under the hood and what's being rendered at one given time. Someone the other day had it right when they said that the cost to develop ONE battlefront 2017 map likely costs more than making all of the battlefront maps from two gens ago combined.


So how many games do YOU think should've been made in four years?
Click to expand...

Your argument from this should be focused on how we can alleviate the rising costs of production especially in tools and asset creation, rather than being the dog in the room full of fire stating 'everything is fine' when you know deep down it isn't. Things are screwed in both directions.
 
P

PhantomThief

Banned
Joco said:
EA's statement makes it sound like they thought this singeplayer Star Wars game wasn't going to be profitable enough and decided to turn Visceral's project into a Star Wars themed Anthem/Destiny/The Division. While killing Visceral.

Very disappointing news.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Very sad to hear this :(
 
T

TheVoidDragon

Member
Looking back at what they said about getting the Star Wars rights for a decade, it's even more absurd that this would happen. They went on about how they were letting their top studios make a game in such an expansive universe as Star Wars, and that they'd each have their own unique story and gameplay seperate from the movies.

"Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe," said Frank Gibeau, president of EA Labels, in a press release from EA. "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.
Click to expand...

To have what seemed like such a promising, refereshing title scrapped because of what sounds like greed is just so disappointing. They've really mistreated the Star Wars ip. Nearly 5 years in and we've had a bare-bones multiplayer FPS that lacked in pretty much every way, and we're about to get a sequel to that which has decided that shoving Pay-to-win microtransactions in is a good way forward, alongside what some consider other smaller problems like every hero being in every era.

If this had problems during development and it was all falling apart, maybe it would be understandable...but to have this pretty much cancelled because it was a linear story-based game is like a slap in the face to both those looking forward to it and worst of all the developer.

From saying Visceral were one of their top studios that are going to make a great story set in the Star Wars universe, to them being shut down and their game torn apart and reworked just to follow trends and focus testing....i think they've once again shown how they have no respect for anything.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
MrRemyJe said:
Your argument from this should be focused on how we can alleviate the rising costs of production especially in tools and asset creation, rather than being the dog in the room full of fire stating 'everything is fine' when you know deep down it isn't. Things are screwed in both directions.
Click to expand...
Devs have already been doing that. They've been coming up with a multitude of ways to make game development "easier." Thing is, at the same time, better asset creation is expensive, creating more complex games is more time consuming, creating more complex engines is time consuming and expensive, creating a sequel more ambitious than the first one is more expensive even with asset reuse, team sizes are larger because of all of the above. And audiences expect even more the next time. And even then, if it's not enough, suddenly that game is faced with "x game 1.5 and "doesn't count as a true sequel." There's no magical "make game dev easier" button. There's no "make completely unique high quality zbrush assets" button. There's no "make AI functions more complex" button. etc.etc.etc. The rising costs are for the same reason as they've always been, because the medium is evolving.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. 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.
Click to expand...

IE we needed to add an open-world design with repeatable quests, and/or lootboxes.

There must have really been something weird going on with EA in that this is the 2nd multi-year dev cycle product that's been either shitcanned (this) or heavily/hastily reworked (ME:A)

I seriously don't get what EA's plans with the Star Wars license are - yeah, Battlefront 2 will be profitable (though probably not as much as its predecessor, given what happened to word of mouth and longevity lacking in the 1st game), but they've got.....this and SWTOR? (which, although doing fine, likely isn't burning up the sales charts?)

edit: Also, didn't the 'focus testing' and such excuse already happen with Insomniac's FUSE?
 
L

LastNac

Member
EA needs to use the license and bring third party devs on like obsidian.

This whole 1 game every 2-3 years ain't gonna cut it. Look at 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Several Star Wars games a year!
 
A

ArkhamFantasy

Member
LastNac said:
EA needs to use the license and bring third party devs on like obsidian.

This whole 1 game every 2-3 years ain't gonna cut it. Look at 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Several Star Wars games a year!
Click to expand...

As big as EA is, 1 game every 2-3 years is actually alot for a single IP in the AAA space.

it was idiotic to sign an exclusive deal with EA. Every major publisher would be interested in Star Wars games, especially after Episode VII was announced.

Does anyone know when EA's star wars exclusivity deal is up?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Locked
Former Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Director, Stig Asmussen, Forms New Studio, Giant Skull, To Create Action-Adventure Game In Unreal Engine 5
News Game Dev
1
333
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Former Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Director Forms New Studio, Giant Skull, To Create Action-Adventure Game In Unreal Engine 5
Game Dev
36
1K
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Battlefield Game Director Marcus Lehto Has Left EA
11
892
Hudo replied
Insider Gaming: Everybody who played Respawn's cancelled Mandaloria game thinks it's fantastic
Rumor 2
76
4K
Barakov replied
Respawn Boss Confirms “Other” Star Wars Project in Development at EA
News Game Dev
9
857
clarky replied
Top Bottom