Today, both Disney and EA have announced that they have signed a multi-year agreement for EA to exclusively publish any and all Star Wars titles for PC and consoles. Disney will handle casual, mobile, and social networking games first party.
Sayeth John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive: “This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come. Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.”
Actually, that last sentence is a mite on the misleading side. Disney will actually be collaborating with three of the world’s premier game developers on the first wave of titles: Visceral Games, DICE, and Bioware. Bioware already has The Old Republic to contend with, so we know what they’re up to–though it’d be nice if this deal included some console love from them–but those other two are arguably the real big news. Ignoring my intense frustration with Dead Space 3‘s everything, that studio making a Star Wars title is kind of a dream combination, and start calling therapists if you aren’t smiling at the idea of a DICE-developed Battlefront game. Well, to be fair, I’m less enthused about this stealing DICE away from Mirror’s Edge 2, where they belong, but I’m much more comfortable with this being the reason than Yet Another God Damned Modern Warfare Shooter.
Either way, Star Wars now has a new, relatively loving home. One that, chances are, will NOT be whoring out its good name to an awkward Lando Calrissian Dance Party.
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