If you’ve been wondering when EA might finally stop cancelling, rebooting, or shifting developers on its Star Wars titles, a recent earnings call may have given us some answers. According to one of the call highlights, Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release date is set for fall 2019. In the same statement, EA mentioned that the expected to deliver a new Plants vs. Zombies title as well.
Earnings calls give investors a chance to look at the past performance of a company while giving them insight into future plans so that they can make smart market decisions. In this EA earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson said there was “a deep line-up of new experiences that we’ll bring to our global communities next fiscal year.” (EA’s current fiscal year ends March 31, 2019.)
Following up on that statement, COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said “Looking forward, we’re delighted to launch Anthem, our new IP, to grow Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences, to deliver new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles, and to add Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to our sports titles in the fall.”
While the wording of that last part initially seems a bit odd (Star Wars Jedi is a sports title now?), Star Wars Jedi is, in fact, not a sports title. Jorgensen was simply saying that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order would be joining EA’s yearly roster of sports titles with a fall release. Since announcing the title of the game at last year’s E3, we had heard basically nothing more about Respawn’s Star Wars game until Jorgensen’s comment.
Fall could mean anytime from September to November, depending on how the publisher is choosing to define the seasons. Given that the specifically mention adding it alongside the sports lineup in the fall, we’re guessing they mean September, which is traditionally when most EA Sports titles find a release date. This would give EA and Respawn ample time to fully unveil the game, show it off at E3, and then get it out ahead of the usually busy fall gaming season that starts in September and doesn’t let up until we’re into December.
Plants vs. Zombies is also an interesting mention, and after last year’s rumor surrounding a Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 3 announcement, fans are hopeful that the console hero shooter based on the mobile title gets another entry. Of course, they could just be talking about another mobile entry in the series, which has been somewhat of a trend recently.
By mentioning these games in the earnings call, there’s a level of confidence about those statements as they relate to investors. With Sony out of the way at E3 this year, it would be a prime place for EA to announce and/or show us more.
new star wars games
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Journey to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Amid rumors that Disney is mulling over EA's future at the helm of its Star Wars portfolio, we've curated a list of developers that deserve a crack at the world's biggest franchise.
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CD Projekt Red
On paper, it’s a no-brainer. Coming hot off The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, CD Projekt Red is already hard at work on Cyberpunk 2077, a futuristic title that will seemingly outstrip Geralt’s final adventure in both scale and scope. And isn’t that exciting?
But imagine CD Projekt Red, arguably Poland’s greatest gaming export, was placed in control of a licensed Star Wars title – what would that look like? A story-driven RPG set on the Outer Rim, we imagine, but with 2077 expected sometime before 2020, a CDPR-backed Star Wars experience is really one for the back-burner.
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Psyonix
Hear me out.
As the developer behind Rocket League, an online sensation that took the world by storm in 2015, Psyonix knows a thing or two about bone-rattling racers. And that’s before we even consider the studio’s history on Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, to which Rocket League is considered a spiritual successor.
Now take this legacy and fuse it with the podracing underworld introduced in The Phantom Menace. The result? A licensed Star Wars game that packs all of the edge-of-your-seat intensity that propelled Rocket League to dizzying new heights three years ago.
It’d naturally be a huge endeavour for Psyonix, but their experience on Rocket League, a game which expanded at such a breathless rate that the Internet struggled to keep up, would surely serve them in good stead. Besides, the mere thought of screeching and wailing over the sun-kissed plains of Tatooine – or Malastare, or Theron, or any other Star Wars planet that takes your fancy – is exciting in and of itself.
Now that’s podracing!
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Naughty Dog
Undoubtedly the crown jewel of Sony’s first-party studios, Naughty Dog is a pretty easy choice when it comes to any single-player experience. Ever since graduating from Crash Bandicoot and the dormant Jak and Daxter series, Naughty Dog has served up one PlayStation gem after another, while The Last of Us is living proof that the studio is equipped to handle more mature and at times graphic content.
That’s not to say that a Naughty Dog-backed Star Wars title has to tread the same path as Joel and Ellie, but give us a galactic adventure with all the ND hallmarks – electric chemistry, cracking dialogue and deeply compelling characters – and we’ll be more than content.
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Machine Games
After two candidates that specialize in third-person adventures, it’s only fitting that we reserve a spot on our list for Machines Games, whose Wolfenstein games have dragged first-person shooters to new heights, beginning with The New Order in 2014.
Couple this with The New Colossus, a balls-to-the-walls sequel replete with fascinating characters and water-tight controls, and it becomes clear that Machine Games has built an impressive record within the industry’s most popular sub-genre.
A third Wolfenstein is likely on the cards, but if Machines Games punched that golden ticket and journeyed into Lucasfilm’s far-away galaxy, the end result would surely be a character-driven adventure that welcomed its players into the dark underbelly of Star Wars – like, say, the harsh reality of life on Corellia, or any number of the mercenaries and bounty hunters connected to Jabba the Hutt.
What you have here is the possibility for a more adult-oriented spinoff, and though it may strain credulity due to the exorbitant costs associated with licensed games, we remain hopeful that a Machine Games-developed Star Wars title will one day – one day – become a reality.
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Square Enix
This is another long shot, but we’ll be damned if Square Enix (and Naoki Yoshida!) didn’t defy the odds and course-correct Final Fantasy XIV at a time when many believed the wildly ambitious MMORPG was doomed.
So if one was to take that pool of talent and point them in the direction of Star Wars, we imagine the end result would be a rich, sprawling universe for SW enthusiasts to explore for months – nay, years.
And then there's always SWTOR. BioWare Austin’s impressive Star Wars: The Old Republic is perhaps one of the greatest examples of an MMORPG that has stood the test of time – up there with World of Warcraft and Guild Wars 2.
And, frankly, it's about time we got the next evolution of KOTOR.
