Disney and EA team up to make Star Wars games

By Michael Rougeau May 6, 2013

star wars the old republic free to play

Disney and Electronic Arts today announced a partnership that will see Star Wars games developed and published on all platforms over multiple years.

“Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories,” reads a press release delivered this afternoon.

Recommended Videos

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau further added that three of EA’s studios will work on Star Wars games going forward: Battlefield developers DICE and Dead Space creators Visceral games will develop brand new Star Wars games while BioWare “continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise.” It’s unclear whether that means simply more work on last year’s MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, or that BioWare has other, unannounced Star Wars games in the works.

The future of Star Wars seemed bright when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, but some fans’ hopes were dashed when Disney closed the Star Wars game development studio LucasArts last month. That left highly anticipated in-progress LucasArts games, in particular the underworld-set third-person shooter Star Wars 1313, up in the air, where they remain to this day.

While it would seem in Disney’s best interest to attempt to resuscitate the game’s development with the help of EA, the companies’ exact plans have not yet been announced. We reached out to Lucasfilm and received the following comment in response, along with this link to StarWars.com’s coverage of the news.

“We believe the collaboration between the creative teams at both Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive, working with the best in class development and publishing teams at EA, will take Star Wars gaming to a whole new level. We’re tremendously excited about the unlimited new opportunity to provide fans with Star Wars stories and experiences never before seen in the Star Wars galaxy.”

Topics

Michael Rougeau

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Mike Rougeau is a journalist and writer who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs. He specializes in video…

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass adds Lego Star Wars and a former Switch console exclusive

Promotional art of Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga.

Xbox Game Pass is getting 11 new games in December, with some out on the platform starting today. The list includes The Game Awards nominated Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Eastward, which was previously a console exclusive on Nintendo Switch.

Microsoft's gaming service tends to add two batches of games every month, so this new batch makes up the first half of its December releases. Starting today, players can already download Eastward, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, and Totally Reliable Delivery Service.

Gaming

Everything announced at the Disney & Marvel Games Showcase

Spider-Man lands in front of other heroes in Marvel's Midnight Suns.

While Disney backed out of directly developing and publishing video games in the 2010s, it is licensing out its famous franchises to game developers more than ever. Just within the last month, we saw the releases of Marvel's Spider-Man for PC and Disney Dreamlight Valley. Now, Disney & Pixar Games, Lucasfilm Games, Marvel Games, and 20th Century Games have shown us what's next at one of the first major presentations of this year's D23: the Disney & Marvel Games Showcase.
Disney had earlier teased the presence of Amy Hennig's ensemble Marvel game, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and Marvel's Midnight Suns', but the show still contained some welcome surprises -- namely, a platformer starring Mickey Mouse and his friends and a new Tron game. Other Disney-owned companies like Lucasfilm Games and 20th Century Games showed up with announcements too, so there were quite a few reveals to enjoy. Here's everything that was announced at the Disney & Marvel Games Showcase.
Disney & Marvel Games Showcase | D23 Expo
Mike Bithell is working on a Tron game
Tron Identity - Reveal Teaser Trailer | D23 Expo 2022
Mike Bithell, the acclaimed indie developer behind games like Thomas Was Alone and John Wick Hex, announced that a Tron video game was in the works. It's called Tron Identity and it will release for PC via Steam in 2023. While only a logo for the game was shown on stream, the game's Steam page gives more details on what players can expect. It appears to be a narrative game in the mold of Bithell's Subsurface Circular.
Disney Illusion Island announced by Battletoads devs
Disney Illusion Island - Reveal Trailer | D23 Expo 2022
The second reveal of the show was Disney Illusion Island, a gorgeous-looking cooperative platformer starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald. It is a Nintendo Switch exclusive created by Battletoads (2020) developer Dlala Studios, and it will be released in 2023.
Marvel's Midnight Suns will now release on December 2
Marvel’s Midnight Suns - Release Date Trailer | D23 Expo 2022
While Marvel's Midnight Suns was supposed to release next month, it got delayed. The game fully reemerged with a new trailer at the Disney & Marvel Games showcase, with a new gameplay trailer and launch date of December 2, 2022. Animated prequel shorts were also teased during the broadcast.
Amy Hennig's Marvel game stars Black Panther and Captain America
Untitled Captain America and Black Panther Game - Cinematic Trailer | D23 Expo 2022
Amy Hennig, the writing mastermind behind franchises like Legacy of Kain and Uncharted, fully unveiled her new Marvel game with Skydance New Media. The game is about Captain America and Black Panther as they take on Hydra in Paris and Wakanda. Not much else is known about the game currently, although its tagline of "Four Heroes. Two Worlds. One War" suggests that up to four characters will be playable.
Pokémon Go studio's next game is Marvel World of Heroes
MARVEL World of Heroes | Announcement Teaser
The show closed with a quick tease of the latest game from Pokémon Go studio Niantic. The team's next AR mobile game is called Marvel World of Heroes. While the trailer didn't show much, a press release explains that players will create their own superhero and fight crimes as they interact with the world via AR. The project is set to launch sometime in 2023.
Everything else

Marvel Strike Force gave a new look at a September 13 update featuring Red Hulk.
Marvel Snap launches on October 18.
Aliens: Dark Descent gameplay was shown.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was confirmed to still be in the works after a significant delay.
Future Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga character packs and a Galactic Edition of the game were confirmed.
Return to Monkey Island got an overview trailer ahead of its September 19 release.
Gargoyles Remastered brings the classic platformer to modern consoles.
Disney Mirrorverse got a cinematic trailer teasing an October update starring Hades.
Disney Speedstorm got a new cinematic trailer that gave a first look at a Monsters Inc. track.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is getting a Toy Story-themed update this fall.
Mobile MMO RPG shooter Avatar Reckoning got an overview trailer narrated by a developer.

Gaming

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake: release date speculation, trailers, gameplay, and more

A Sith lord in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake trailer.

Before Disney bought the Star Wars IP and cut nearly everything that wasn't the main film series out of the canon, there were tons of expanded Star Wars universe games, books, and shows that were technically all canon. Some games obviously attempted to retell the stories from the films, while others tried to fill in gaps between them. When BioWare got the chance to make a Star Wars game, they decided to set it where they had the most creative freedom possible: the distant past.

Knights of the Old Republic was originally released on PC and Xbox in 2003. Taking the experience BioWare had for writing deep, complex, and layered RPG stories and mixing it with the setting of the Star Wars universe, this original tale of hunting down Darth Revan became an instant classic. Even nearly two decades later, many consider it to be one of the best Star Wars stories ever told, films included. However, two decades will make even the best game show its age, which was why rumors about a Knights of the Old Republic remake were so exciting. Thankfully, those rumors turned out to be true. We only have a short teaser and some articles for information so far, but here's everything we know about the Knights of the Old Republic remake.