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Rumour: Disney is looking to pass the Star Wars licence to someone else, someone not EA

Published: 15:07, 20 February 2018
EA
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Star Wars Battlefront 2

Rumours that Disney is shopping around, looking for a studio that will replace EA are swirling around. After five years and two sub-par games, Lucasfilm's parent company might be in the market for a developer that will restore the game franchise to its former glory.

This will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who has had access to the Internet during the last couple of months, but it seems Disney is not too pleased with EA. Rumours that the company is looking for a replacement have recently started swirling around.

Ever since they got an exclusive Star Wars licence back in 2013, they have barely produced two games in the span of five whole years.

DICE Star Wars Battlefront 2 robot soldiers marching Star Wars Battlefront 2

The first Star Wars game that EA developed in-house* was Star Wars: Battlefront. It was released in 2015 as a reboot of the previous games. Star Wars: Battlefront was criticised for its lack of a single player campaign, so naturally, EA went and added free and paid content add-ons to please the angry fans.

The solution that EA hoped would fix Star Wars: Battlefront was giving the people free expansions and make them pay for content that should have shipped with the game. Spoiler alert: the pattern continues.

In 2017, Star Wars: Battlefront II came around and everyone saw it as EA's opportunity to clear their name and give the fans something they were clamouring for for some time. I'd be happy to report that EA went and developed a Star Wars game every single fan has enjoyed.

EA DICE Star Wars: Battlefront 2 loot crate Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - loot Crait

Star Wars: Battlefront II was received even worse than its predecessor, with the aggressive microtransaction mechanic taking center stage. Fans have noticed something wasn't quite right when they first fired up the back in October 2017.

Since then, EA has removed the Epic Star Cards from the loot boxes, slashed the prices of some characters and then turned the mechanic off completely. The loot boxes won't stay away from Star Wars: Battlefront II for much longer, as EA is actively looking for a way to in.

EA's relationship with Disney, and by extension Lucasfilm, is rocky at the moment, and the fact EA closed down last year, doesn't help their case that much. Visceral Games was working on Star Wars: Project Ragtag.

EA An excerpt from an article talking about the return of microtransactions to Star Wars Battlefront II Star Wars Battlefront II - loot boxes

*When Electronic Arts slap an EA prefix onto your studio's name, your house becomes their house.

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Star Wars Battlefront 2
Star Wars Battlefront II The Last Jedi season

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