EA's Star Wars Plans: Battlefront II, Visceral & Respawn

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen had several Star Wars games to discuss during an earnings call yesterday. I'm not entirely sure how an earnings call works but I imagine if you keep mentioning Star Wars games that your company is publishing at some point in the near future, everyone is happy.

"How many Star Wars will there be Mr Jorgensen, and when can we expect them?"

"Many and soon."

Wild applause breaks out in the boardroom.

There weren't many details about the three upcoming games that have studios attached, but Jorgensen says there will be one Star Wars game a year from EA, for the next three or four years. As it is in the multiplex, so it shall be on the Origin storefront. As far as specifics go, we learned that Star Wars: Battlefront 2, featuring "content" from "the new movies", will be out next year (either fiscal or calendar), while the following year will be home to the game from Dead Space devs Visceral.

Rumours about that game have been swirling around the internet - depending who you believe it's a third-person open world RPG or a more conventional third-person action game. We'll stick with third-person because Visceral aren't only bringing their Dead Space pedigree to the table, they've also hired Amy Hennig, known for her work on the Uncharted series. I'm hoping for tactical lightsaber dismemberment. And quips.

No timeframe was provided for the release of Titanfall studio Respawn's Star Wars game, but it might well be the third in the annual release schedule. By that point, I expect to have my own real life spaceship. Stig Asmussen, formerly lead designer on God of War 3 and now a game director at Respawn, is quite excited about working in the Star Wars universe:

We’ll be making a third-person action/adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.

Now, I understand on the surface this might sound a bit dry, but developing a game within the ever-expanding Star Wars universe opens up so many paths for us to go down, and an unparalleled playground to design within. We have already planted the seeds by assembling a small, but incredibly talented team, ready for the amazing journey that lies ahead. With this in mind we are looking to expand the dream.

It's possible that one or more of these games won't come to PC and it's also possible that the next Star Wars film will be so bad that all future Star Wars media will be cancelled immediately. Admittedly, that's unlikely, particularly given what Star Wars has already survived, but it's impossible to predict the future.

Personally, I just hope we'll see more than swipey, shooty action games. Give me a digital adaptation (or extension of) Star Wars: Rebellion.