EA should lose the Star Wars license

Archlyte

Considering what they could have accomplished given a license to print money, EA has demonstrated repeatedly that they know how to make decisions with this license that make for tepid customer satisfaction and poor performance. The failure of the open world game to see the light, the myriad problems with SWTOR, and Battlefront appearing to be a general frustration simulator all point to Disney making a choice as to whether they want to continue to lose potential dollars to this rotting agreement with EA, or to look for new options. Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole, reassessing the gaming license would seem to make sense. 

sayuu

seeing as how EA's star wars games "print money" in spite of all the internet rage against them I dont think they will lose the IP exclusivity anytime soon. . .

TheDarkrayne

sayuu said:

seeing as how EA's star wars games "print money" in spite of all the internet rage against them I dont think they will lose the IP exclusivity anytime soon. . .

Don't know.. Disney sure do extreme things sometimes to maintain their family friendly image and, let's face it, there's a good chance that whoever they give Star Wars rights to would print money.

TheDarkrayne

Archlyte said:

Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole

That's ridiculous. It's a movie producer... making some more movies. That's what they do.

d_20

Some other thoughts on this:

https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/17/16670758/star-wars-battlefront-2-issues-disney-ea

Keller

Look what another studio has done with  Star Trek Online.... if someone should loose their license. EA at least took the microtransactions offline. As for Star Wars there are plenty of other games to go to. Don't believe Battlefronts will turn gamers away from the franchise.

Rosenborg

Archlyte said:

Considering what they could have accomplished given a license to print money, EA has demonstrated repeatedly that they know how to make decisions with this license that make for tepid customer satisfaction and poor performance. The failure of the open world game to see the light, the myriad problems with SWTOR, and Battlefront appearing to be a general frustration simulator all point to Disney making a choice as to whether they want to continue to lose potential dollars to this rotting agreement with EA, or to look for new options. Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole, reassessing the gaming license would seem to make sense. 

The new Rian Johnson lead trilogy? You know, when Trevorrow was fired from directing Episode 9, people speculated that Episode 8 - The Last Jedi, probably had some behind the scenes drama that made Johnson an unwanted director for Episode 9.

As far as I know Disney is doing just fine financially.

But I do believe Battlefront 2 has raised some questions at Disney. With The Last Jedi coming in theatres next month, the shit show EA has caused is something Disney won't tolerate, they will do everything in their power to protect the franchise they paid billions for.

EA didn't just suddenly realize that the MT in Battlefront 2 is bad for sales, it's Star Wars, it will sell no matter what. The bad publicity it has caused though, is what made Disney order them to remove it for the time being.

Quizzical

And this is why you buy games for the game mechanics, not for the IP.  Or at least why you should.  A lot of people don't, which leads to fiascoes like this.

TheScavenger

Blizzard should also lose their license to warcraft and starcraft and give it to CD project. Imagine, even if it might take a long to make, the most amazing and realistic warcraft RPG by cd project the makers of witcher 3 the best RPG ever.

And I can't even imagine what a starcraft RPG could be like if it was by cd project...that would be an instant winner.

SirAgravaine

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

Quizzical

SirAgravaine said:

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

A number of people around here will tell you that Star Wars Galaxies was perfect before this the New Game Experience wrecked it.

More seriously, EA does all sorts of obnoxious stuff all the time.  If you hear about some big, well-known game publisher having done something scandalous, EA is the culprit more often than not.  I've got a simple solution for this:  don't buy anything from EA.  I've been boycotting them for over 20 years now, and in that time, they've given me plenty of additional reasons to justify that and none to reconsider that stance.  There are many other publishers and developers who are far more customer-friendly.

Scorchien

Quizzical said:

SirAgravaine said:

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

A number of people around here will tell you that Star Wars Galaxies was perfect before this the New Game Experience wrecked it.

More seriously, EA does all sorts of obnoxious stuff all the time.  If you hear about some big, well-known game publisher having done something scandalous, EA is the culprit more often than not.  I've got a simple solution for this:  don't buy anything from EA.  I've been boycotting them for over 20 years now, and in that time, they've given me plenty of additional reasons to justify that and none to reconsider that stance.  There are many other publishers and developers who are far more customer-friendly.

   Doesnt seem to be working , in those 20 years they have sold more games by far than any other publisher ...They have provided hundreds of millions of hours of enjoyable gameplay to the consumer..  Such bad guys ............lol

Quizzical

Scorchien said:

Quizzical said:

SirAgravaine said:

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

A number of people around here will tell you that Star Wars Galaxies was perfect before this the New Game Experience wrecked it.

More seriously, EA does all sorts of obnoxious stuff all the time.  If you hear about some big, well-known game publisher having done something scandalous, EA is the culprit more often than not.  I've got a simple solution for this:  don't buy anything from EA.  I've been boycotting them for over 20 years now, and in that time, they've given me plenty of additional reasons to justify that and none to reconsider that stance.  There are many other publishers and developers who are far more customer-friendly.

   Doesnt seem to be working , in those 20 years they have sold more games by far than any other publisher ...They have provided hundreds of millions of hours of enjoyable gameplay to the consumer..  Such bad guys ............lol

I'm not sure about cumulatively over the course of 20 years, but for at least some times in there, Blizzard/Activision was bigger than EA.

I haven't driven EA out of business, of course.  But I have made sure that none of their shenanigans could hurt me.  I'd rather spend my money to support other developers and publishers whose business practices are more friendly to my preferences--and there are many such other companies.

If you feel harmed by something EA did, you have it in your power to ensure that it can never happen again.  All that you have to do is not buy from them again.

Scorchien

Quizzical said:

Scorchien said:

Quizzical said:

SirAgravaine said:

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

A number of people around here will tell you that Star Wars Galaxies was perfect before this the New Game Experience wrecked it.

More seriously, EA does all sorts of obnoxious stuff all the time.  If you hear about some big, well-known game publisher having done something scandalous, EA is the culprit more often than not.  I've got a simple solution for this:  don't buy anything from EA.  I've been boycotting them for over 20 years now, and in that time, they've given me plenty of additional reasons to justify that and none to reconsider that stance.  There are many other publishers and developers who are far more customer-friendly.

   Doesnt seem to be working , in those 20 years they have sold more games by far than any other publisher ...They have provided hundreds of millions of hours of enjoyable gameplay to the consumer..  Such bad guys ............lol

I'm not sure about cumulatively over the course of 20 years, but for at least some times in there, Blizzard/Activision was bigger than EA.

I haven't driven EA out of business, of course.  But I have made sure that none of their shenanigans could hurt me.  I'd rather spend my money to support other developers and publishers whose business practices are more friendly to my preferences--and there are many such other companies.

If you feel harmed by something EA did, you have it in your power to ensure that it can never happen again.  All that you have to do is not buy from them again.

Ive invested in both and other than a brief moment in 08 when EA stock drop to 15$  (which was when i saw the oppurtunity to buy in)  EA has always been bigger and still is today , And has still provided far more top titles and sold far more units

Solar_Prophet

Giving exclusive rights to one publisher or developer is extremely short-sighted. A license like Star Wars needs to be both treated with respect, and explored from a multitude of different perspectives. You're not going to get that from a giant like EA which has so much direct control over their developers. So far it's just been cash grab after cash grab, with some like SWTOR straddling the line (or used to, now it's all about the $$). 

Disney needs to give others a chance. We've already seen what Obsidian can do with the license, why not give them another shot? What about giving Machine Games a try at a SW FPS, or From Software the opportunity at an ARPG? There are just so many talented medium-sized to indie studios out there which could do amazing things with a SW license, yet they obviously went with the one that could pay the most, quality be damned. Such a shame. 

TheScavenger said:

Blizzard should also lose their license to warcraft and starcraft and give it to CD project. Imagine, even if it might take a long to make, the most amazing and realistic warcraft RPG by cd project the makers of witcher 3 the best RPG ever.

And I can't even imagine what a starcraft RPG could be like if it was by cd project...that would be an instant winner.

Hey now, Blizzard stole those IPs from Games Workshop created those IPs fair and square! You can't just take away their rights to their inferior, watered-down copies totally original work like that!

In all seriousness, I'd rather CDProjekt tackle an RPG set in the actual WH40K or Warhammer universes, not Blizzard's hackneyed versions of them. That would truly be something special. 

Archlyte

TheDarkrayne said:

Archlyte said:

Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole

That's ridiculous. It's a movie producer... making some more movies. That's what they do.

This was given as the reason by a news report I heard while driving. They referenced disappointing or poor financials and reported that Disney followed up with a number of new projects including the new movies. 

Archlyte

sayuu said:

seeing as how EA's star wars games "print money" in spite of all the internet rage against them I dont think they will lose the IP exclusivity anytime soon. . .

lol. Not sure what to make of this but ok. 

Archlyte

Rosenborg said:

Archlyte said:

Considering what they could have accomplished given a license to print money, EA has demonstrated repeatedly that they know how to make decisions with this license that make for tepid customer satisfaction and poor performance. The failure of the open world game to see the light, the myriad problems with SWTOR, and Battlefront appearing to be a general frustration simulator all point to Disney making a choice as to whether they want to continue to lose potential dollars to this rotting agreement with EA, or to look for new options. Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole, reassessing the gaming license would seem to make sense. 

The new Rian Johnson lead trilogy? You know, when Trevorrow was fired from directing Episode 9, people speculated that Episode 8 - The Last Jedi, probably had some behind the scenes drama that made Johnson an unwanted director for Episode 9.

As far as I know Disney is doing just fine financially.

But I do believe Battlefront 2 has raised some questions at Disney. With The Last Jedi coming in theatres next month, the shit show EA has caused is something Disney won't tolerate, they will do everything in their power to protect the franchise they paid billions for.

EA didn't just suddenly realize that the MT in Battlefront 2 is bad for sales, it's Star Wars, it will sell no matter what. The bad publicity it has caused though, is what made Disney order them to remove it for the time being.

Well I'm not really sure what you are getting at here because you seem to be saying that Disney will do a lot to exercise control because of the product but then you state that the product is automatically successful so it doesn't matter. I think Star Wars stuff always makes some money as compared to other things, but a very good product + Star Wars would be that much better. Given all the negatives that EA has a company like Disney would be better off handling these properties themselves and cutting out EA.

delete5230

Disney / EA = NFL and Time Warner

Their way above the common people, nothing will change ever. 
You have them and you have us !

PsYcHoGBR

Looks like Disney pulled away from Marvel Heroes because of misconduct and now the game is closing 31st December this year. So EA getting so much flak over Battlefront 2 I would not be surprised that Disney is breathing down their neck and could have pushed them to pull the microtransactions from the game for now.

https://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-marvel-heroes-1820475273

Shaigh

Selling overpriced crap to adult kids, sounds like star wars to me.

Shodanas

Okay, lets assume for a moment that Disney is indeed considering removing the IP from EA. They are going to give it to whom exactly ? Activision ? Ubisoft ?

Not many studios out there with the infrastructure needed to produce and distribute SW titles with the fidelity Disney demands and pretty much all of them are run by greedy suits.

Shodanas

SirAgravaine said:

Our society is becoming obsessive about perfection. I don't recall a perfect Star Wars game ever being made.

Knights of the Old Republic.
X-Wing Alliance.

kitarad

Wonder what their contract looks like. I doubt it's that easy to remove/take away the licence.

It isn't too long before it expires might as well wait it out instead of getting into long court battles. Both sides will have an army of lawyers.

Rosenborg

Archlyte said:

Rosenborg said:

Archlyte said:

Considering what they could have accomplished given a license to print money, EA has demonstrated repeatedly that they know how to make decisions with this license that make for tepid customer satisfaction and poor performance. The failure of the open world game to see the light, the myriad problems with SWTOR, and Battlefront appearing to be a general frustration simulator all point to Disney making a choice as to whether they want to continue to lose potential dollars to this rotting agreement with EA, or to look for new options. Given that the decision to make a new trilogy is almost certainly a result of poor earnings for Disney as a whole, reassessing the gaming license would seem to make sense. 

The new Rian Johnson lead trilogy? You know, when Trevorrow was fired from directing Episode 9, people speculated that Episode 8 - The Last Jedi, probably had some behind the scenes drama that made Johnson an unwanted director for Episode 9.

As far as I know Disney is doing just fine financially.

But I do believe Battlefront 2 has raised some questions at Disney. With The Last Jedi coming in theatres next month, the shit show EA has caused is something Disney won't tolerate, they will do everything in their power to protect the franchise they paid billions for.

EA didn't just suddenly realize that the MT in Battlefront 2 is bad for sales, it's Star Wars, it will sell no matter what. The bad publicity it has caused though, is what made Disney order them to remove it for the time being.

Well I'm not really sure what you are getting at here because you seem to be saying that Disney will do a lot to exercise control because of the product but then you state that the product is automatically successful so it doesn't matter. I think Star Wars stuff always makes some money as compared to other things, but a very good product + Star Wars would be that much better. Given all the negatives that EA has a company like Disney would be better off handling these properties themselves and cutting out EA.

Let's see if I can explain it properly. Basically what I was trying to say is that, the bad publicity doesn't just hurt EA but Disney as well.

Consumers boycotting Battlefront 2, an EA product. Can lead to consumers boycotting the whole Star Wars franchise, owned by Disney.

Battlefront 2 will make money for EA but the bad publicity can take away money from Disney.

I do feel that Disney should resurrect LucasArts and let them to the licensing per game, like they used to with KOTOR and such.

Phry

Overall, the success or failure of SW:BF2 won't affect EA's long term finances, what it will do however, at least i am hoping it will, is affect how developers/publishers implement loot box mechanics into games, i can only hope that this whole EA fiasco will begin the move away from Loot Boxes, even if it means having cash shops selling even more cosmetic items, or whatever. If EA is going to have P2W mechanics in their games, which for SW:BF2 it most certainly did, then at least don't try and hide it behind gamble boxes that exploits those players who literally can't help themselves because they have addictive personalities, that these tend to be children rather than adults is especially egregious.
Modern gaming is becoming something of a morass of immoral practices, its why i have ultimately decided to dodge the bullet for Destiny 2, SW:BF2 and ME:Andromeda to name just a few, is it really so hard for developers to bring out a game that isn't mired in controversial practices? why are so many games these days either cash grabs or thinly veiled political statements. If developers/publishers want my money then they are going to have to work a hell of a lot harder than they are now, but on the bonus side, 'ding' Hype Resistance (78).
Everquest, still a source of meme's decades later