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EA Is the Game Company Disney Was Looking For

An anonymous reader writes "Electronic Arts announced today it has landed an exclusive multi-year agreement to develop and publish games based on Lucasfilms' Star Wars universe. EA said the it will create and publish Star Wars games for a 'core gaming audience' across 'all popular platforms' and genres. The EA studios creating those 'core' Star Wars games are Battlefield developer DICE, Dead Space developer Visceral Games and Mass Effect house BioWare."

19 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. Great... by SanDogWeps · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now all EA games will come with free misery AND a Force Choke...

    1. Re:Great... by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      EA promises to do for Lucas Arts what Disney pledges to do for Lucasfilm.

      This is following the lead established by McDonalds - and what they've done for beef.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    2. Re:Great... by 24-bit+Voxel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Same here. For me, if it's not on steam it doesn't exist. And since EA isn't on steam... well... it's as if hundreds of games screamed out in isolation and were suddenly silenced.

    3. Re:Great... by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful

      EA promises to do for Lucas Arts what Disney pledges to do for Lucasfilm

      You hear any Marvel Comics fan complaining about Disney? Didn't think so.

    4. Re:Great... by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, to be honest Disney will be hard pressed to mangle the Star Wars franchise any more than George Lucas did.

    5. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Presumably that's why they hired EA.

    6. Re:Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't have problems with DRM per se. I do have problems with DRM when it becomes disruptive. Steam isn't disruptive. Sometimes there are glitches in their system, but occurrences are few and far between nowadays, I can't really remember the last time I have had a problem. It allows people to install their games on an unlimited number of computers regardless of os. Game updates are reliable and unobtrusive. They give the little guy massive help by making sure indie games get as good exposure as the triple a titles. Not to mention the fact that they always have something on sale.

    7. Re:Great... by Totenglocke · · Score: 4, Informative

      Check out Good Old Games (gog.com). They're all DRM free and that's where almost all of my game purchases are anymore, because I despise companies punishing people for buying their product.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    8. Re:Great... by VanGarrett · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If all DRM were implemented the way it is implemented with Steam, then we wouldn't be having such heated arguments about DRM.

  2. Lando Reaction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This deal is getting worse all the time.

  3. Well, they needed an evil empire... by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 4, Funny

    And with Electronic Arts, I guess they found one.

  4. Re:Battlefield: Star Wars by doctor+woot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Make it happen.

    You've never played Battlefront?

  5. Mediocrity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And so the lineage of mostly-forgettable Star Wars games continues unabated...

  6. Merchandising within merchandising by Dynedain · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can see the tie-ins now... Star Wars Sims: Make your Ewok's spend less time brushing their teeth with Crest!

    --
    I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
    1. Re:Merchandising within merchandising by White+Flame · · Score: 4, Informative

      The full Episode 4 using Disney iconic characters with the witch from Sleeping Beauty as Darth Vader

      Her name is Maleficent, which is a pretty cool villain name to know.

  7. EA DRM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    EA's DRM will now stand for Darkside Rights Management

  8. Losing optimism on Disney and Star Wars... by runeghost · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a casual Star Wars fan, I've tried to stay upbeat about the sale of Star Wars to Disney. After all, as my friends and I keep telling each other, "It can't actually be worse than the prequels, right?" But I've watched announcement after announcement with trepidation. J.J. Abrams directing? Clone Wars unceremoniously canceled and the people making it let go? Now the universally-loathed EA is to be in charge of the gaming wing of the franchise? (I'm expecting Disney to cancel Dark Horse's comics license as soon as they legally can, if not sooner.) Star Wars has had a great many ups and downs over the years, but there have been some amazing stories along the way. I fear that the Mouse is going to steamroller that whole universe into bland commercialism for the rest of my life.

  9. Who cares? by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Who cares? This franchise is way past its sell-by date.

    Looking forward to the new Honor Harrington movie.

  10. EA is the game company by alteveer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that Disney deserves.