Doug Heffernan
Member
Any time EA shows a vague "making of" video during their conference instead of an actual trailer, I'm just going to assume the game is a mess.
They used very specific terminology, it wasn't the fact that it was singleplayer but seemed based on the type of single player game. One that contradicts design trends this gen. When I think on Uncharted's older trends. I think about how the games used to be so scripted that even if nothing hurt you you'd still die if you went off script too much. Compared to stuff like that level open world level in Lost Legacy or Madagascar in UC4 let alone stuff like the suburban exploration in TLOU.I mean, the statement directly said they didn't think market forces were favorable for a big single player game. Even if that's not the reason they canned the project, it's the reason they're willing to tell investors. Which isn't that different.
Oh don't get me wrong. GAF inserts way too much drama into this conversation that should be lead by facts and market realities, not feelings and blissful nostalgia. I've said this in a couple of loot box threads and was called a defender of billionaires amongst other things. There really is no need for this kind of end of the world mood, but press outlets rushing to write opinion pieces with those hot takes don't really help either. Angry YouTubers do that already anyway.
Just less drama in general would be nice.
Because EA has shareholders and they want to create value for them and give them confidence in light of an announcement that makes them look kind of bad. They wasted a ton of time and money to just end up throwing much of the Star Wars project away.
EA in every call with investors: "We make service games now"
EA: We're canceling this game because it's single-player and linear instead of a service-based game.
EA (secretly): Also, the game was a mess.
Gamers: See! They're going to keep making single-player games because the last one they tried was a mess and then they decided that trying to save it was too big a risk and they should just make service-based games instead.
Only title the new lead studio has worked on is assisting with Battlefront 2 and technically Mass Effect Andromeda since the studio has been merged with Bioware Montreal.
EA in every call with investors: "We make service games now"
EA: We're canceling this game because it's single-player and linear instead of a service-based game.
EA (secretly): Also, the game was a mess.
Gamers: See! They're going to keep making single-player games because the last one they tried was a mess and then they decided that trying to save it was too big a risk and they should just make service-based games instead.
Wait... so the Visceral Star Wars game was cancelled after all?
EA in every call with investors: "We make service games now"
EA: We're canceling this game because it's single-player and linear instead of a service-based game.
EA (secretly): Also, the game was a mess.
Gamers: See! They're going to keep making single-player games because the last one they tried was a mess and then they decided that trying to save it was too big a risk and they should just make service-based games instead.
Damn. Crunch was so bad it was making them delusional. Seriously though, how can two very experienced devs think such a thing so late on?
It seems to me that game development generally is in a very bad place right now (much worse than I could ever imagine)?
Until weeks before release, the directors of The Last Of Us thought it was such a disaster that it'd kill their careers.
Going further back, we need look no further than Ubisoft's E3 showing to see a company that used to be nigh entirely in on singleplayer focused experiences going with a very multiplayer heavy/centric approach.
but i see people saying single player games are not dead anymore because of this news
but it seems ea is still moving to gaas
this guy gets it
The quote from EA was basically that:So its a bad game and they're gonna spend this last year and half of development pumping it full of monetization systems to try and recoup some of their loss?
I am going to stick with what EA said themselves. Publishers come out all the time and say that games get canceled because they run over budget or miss milestones.
Oh yea definitely misread that. :/You're thinking of Motive. The game got moved to EA Vancouver, which is on the other side of Canada, and is under the purview of Black Box's lead.
I do think it's really notable though that the reason that happened is because they moved the Assassin's Creed multiplayer team on to Steep and the Assassin's Creed naval team onto Skull & Bones (which is also why they cut the naval sections from the game).To be fair, the last time Assassin's Creed had competitive multiplayer was Black Flag. I'll give them credit for sticking with single player for their flagship franchise.
Yes. I feel this is why we are actually having this discussion. Like, assuredly the game was in a bad state, and that was the #1 reason for cancellation, but EA is unlikely to go with a singleplayer heavy game unless it's at least a full campaign coop open world title.
While EA did not explicitly say that it was being canceled because it was single player, they said the game was being canceled for qualities that single player games have.
I am going to stick with what EA said themselves. Publishers come out all the time and say that games get canceled because they run over budget or miss milestones.
That's what's weird to me.
They cancel (reboot, ect) the original game and ALREADY have a new direction for the game? Like, they didn't sit down, take some time and decide what to do after they've canceled it...
They don't even know what they are going to do with Amy, but they know what they are doing with the game it seems.......
That's what's weird to me.
They cancel (reboot, ect) the original game and ALREADY have a new direction for the game? Like, they didn't sit down, take some time and decide what to do after they've canceled it...
They don't even know what they are going to do with Amy, but they know what they are doing with the game it seems.......
That's what's weird to me.
They cancel (reboot, ect) the original game and ALREADY have a new direction for the game? Like, they didn't sit down, take some time and decide what to do after they've canceled it...
They don't even know what they are going to do with Amy, but they know what they are doing with the game it seems.......
What Jason is saying in no way contradicts the very real possibility that this game will resurface as a MP focused GaaS title.
All those meltdowns and assumptions about the game being turned into a MP focused GAAS tho.....
I imagine that statement is much more focused on their investors than Disney.Does Disney have an out? Is there a penalty on EA if they don't deliver a certain number of Star Wars games or meet certain milestones? Is that why EA said they transferred the game vs. outright cancel it?
Does Disney have an out? Is there a penalty on EA if they don't deliver a certain number of Star Wars games or meet certain milestones? Is that why EA said they transferred the game vs. outright cancel it?
Just some clarification, Ubisoft Singapore still handles all the water simulation in the AC games. AC:O has naval combat as a callback to Black Flag too. And Steep was the result of them testing out new tech for Ghost Recon. But yes Ubi is all about service games atm.I do think it's really notable though that the reason that happened is because they moved the Assassin's Creed multiplayer team on to Steep and the Assassin's Creed naval team onto Skull & Bones (which is also why they cut the naval sections from the game).
The game losing its light multiplayer component and a major campaign feature in favor of spinning up two service games is still moving in the direction of online service games in my mind, though I could see the argument otherwise.
Does Disney have an out? Is there a penalty on EA if they don't deliver a certain number of Star Wars games or meet certain milestones? Is that why EA said they transferred the game vs. outright cancel it?
So does this mean that Amy was the problem and EA was actually in the right?
Until weeks before release, the directors of The Last Of Us thought it was such a disaster that it'd kill their careers.
The game almost assuredly got a warning that they had to get back on track around 3-6 months ago, and they presumably made a contingency plan for the game in the event the review failed.
A lot of people involved have said that the writing was on the wall for months, and the studio had already declined to 70 people without layoffs, so I'm guessing everyone knew this might happen and many had already started to move on.
Ummmm.. GAF is not the only place that started it. Polygon are professional journalists and they made a huge opinion piece over this news calling SP gaming as dead.
So does this mean that Amy was the problem and EA was actually in the right?
I was thinking something similar, the project being only a mess doesn't preclude it from having it being turned into something more inline with EA current taste for service driven games.To be fair, they most likely are taking this opportunity to turn this into a games as a service title since they have to start over with nothing but the tech and art assets anyway.
I'd be shocked if it wasn't at least open world if it is singleplayer heavy.
The game almost assuredly got a warning that they had to get back on track around 3-6 months ago, and they presumably made a contingency plan for the game in the event the review failed.
A lot of people involved have said that the writing was on the wall for months, and the studio had already declined to 70 people without layoffs, so I'm guessing everyone knew this might happen and many had already started to move on.
I have a strong feeling that Mass Effect Andromeda bombing hard this year helped influence the decision to scrap this Star Wars game.
Ummmm.. GAF is not the only place that started it. Polygon are professional journalists and they made a huge opinion piece over this news calling SP gaming as dead.
So another Mismanaged project and studio like what happened to Mass effect:Andromeda.
Get your shit together EA.