EA up's bodycount and shuts down Visceral Games (Dead Space, Battlefield Hardline)

[Kingshango]

https://kotaku.com/ea-shuts-down-visceral-games-1819623990?IR=T

EA has shut down Visceral Games, the studio behind games like Battlefield Hardline and Dead Space, the publisher said today. The Star Wars game in development at Visceral will be revamped and move to a different studio.

“Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe,” EA’s Patrick Söderlund said. “In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.”

Another one to add to the pile

 

[Liquid]

They should be fired after that trash that was hardline

 

[Romell]

 

[Mowgli]

Should have made hardline a gore title.

They sold out and got rekt as a result
Best go the devolver digital route

 

[RoidJonesJr]

Does this mean no Dead Space remastered games? I never played them, was hoping they would be remastered for the PS4

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

EA Shuts Down Visceral Games (Dead Space, Single-Player Star Wars Project)

EA have announced that they are shutting down Visceral Games, the studio behind the entire Dead Space series, Battlefield Hardline, and an upcoming unnamed Star Wars game that had been teased by EA in previous years.

Visceral brought Amy Hennig, most famously known as director of Uncharted 2, on board for the studio's Star Wars game that is now being significantly retooled. As EA's executive vice president Patrick Söderlund implied in a blog post, the game seems to be moving from a self-contained single-player experience to a long-term Games as a Service model.

“In its current form, it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design.”

Work on the game will slowly wind down at Visceral as EA shutters the studio and will transfer to EA Vancouver, who had already been helping to work on the game. There is no word on how EA plans to proceed with Amy Hennig yet.

As part of this shift, the Star Wars game is also being delayed from 2019 to an undefined date in the future. It is unknown if any of the original teaser or game design will remain.

Electronic Arts have full exclusivity for Star Wars console games, a deal that ensured much of the company would be focusing on the license for the foreseeable future. This continues with the release of Battlefront II on November 17, which is being worked on by studios including EA Motive, DICE, and Criterion.

Our Take
For better or worse, EA are completely moving to a model of Games as a Service, which seemingly does not include studios like Visceral which specialize in story-driven single-player experiences. We are saddened to hear about the studio's closure and hope for the best for everyone affected.
EA Shuts Down Visceral Games (Dead Space, Single-Player Star Wars Project)

 

[llt23]

Amy Hennig was also director for the Legacy Of Kain series.


EA is trash but thats nothing new.

 

[N*ggerFa*ot]

If it doesn't have micro trans-actions or loot crates EA has to shut it down

Spoiler

fukk i wanted this so badly

 

[Kingshango]

 

[Animal House]

That was supposed to be a open world star wars game

 

[Kingshango]

That was supposed to be a open world star wars game

And now it's gonna be a Star Wars Battle Royal type game with lootboxes.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

Was looking forward to a straight single player 3rd person Star Wars game. I wonder if Disney/Lucasfilm stopped them if fan outcry is loud enough

 

[Mowgli]

These bums brought this on themselves. They were known for hardcore action and then made that garbage Battlefield Hardline that was light on content and light on Hardcore action. Dice should have used Hardline as a way to expand the brand into a mature bloody and gory version of Battlefield using smaller scale weapons. It should have been a brutal title with a large number of guns but I think EA ends up killing their franchises because they don't want to invest the proper money into making a quality product. They are working dice a little too hard and shrinking their budget across individual titles which only hurt the quality of the products they release

 

[Dominic Brehetto]

fukk EA.

This whole article reads like a parody of what you think EA would do but it's true.

This is star wars 1313 all over again.

 

[Dominic Brehetto]

I'm legit heated.

EA absolutely ruined visceral. Ran them into the ground and now cancelled them when it looked like they could be making their comeback


First EA absolutely ruins the dead space franchise,turning an incredible survival horror game into some nonsense micro transaction filled action game.


Then they make them do a battlefield game nobody asked for and now they shut them down because they want games as a service model instead of an uncharted style game.


fukk EA.