Report: Electronic Arts Cancels Star Wars Game (Again)

Travis Verbil January 15, 2019 8:47 PM EST

Our long national Star Wars nightmare is over.

Electronic Arts has canceled its upcoming open-world Star Wars game, Kotaku reports.

This news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Essentially the Pet Semetary of Star Wars titles, EA’s unnamed project was the remains of a Star Wars game once developed by Visceral Games. When EA decided to close Visceral Games, the project was picked up (and presumably reimagined) by EA Vancouver. While it’s unknown how much of Visceral’s original game seeped into EA Vancouver’s project, the project seemed to be a creative Theseus’ Ship— swapping studios and directors before the whole thing came crashing down.

BREAKING: EA has canceled its open-world Star Wars game, three sources tell me. This is the one that EA Vancouver took over when Visceral shut down in October 2017. Not clear what EA Vancouver will do next – rumors suggest yet another Star Wars project… https://t.co/OtZ6OTE1np — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 16, 2019

One is to wonder whether this project’s cancellation will alter the relationship between Disney and EA. Back in 2017, EA faced a large public backlash after its monetization of Star Wars Battlefront II angered fans and critics alike. While Disney and EA presented a united front in public (with LucasFilm telling The Washington Post that they supported “support EA’s decision to temporarily remove in-game payments to address fan concerns“), other reports pointed at drama behind the scenes. Both The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported hints at a more strained relationship between the pair, detailing how Disney executive Jimmy Pitaro came in at the eleventh hour to persuade EA to ditch Battlefront II‘s microtransactions.

The reportedly canceled game is not to be confused with Respawn Entertainment’s upcoming title Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. While details surrounding this game are scant, Respawn’s website writes that the game will be “a brand-new action adventure game which tells an original Star Wars™ story around a surviving Padawan set shortly after the events of Star Wars™: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.” By all accounts, Respawn’s Star Wars title looks to be alive and well, with rumors suggesting that the game may even launch in November of this year. While not much else is known about Respawn’s upcoming Star Wars game, you can read DualShockers’ hopes for the game here.

EA publishes a myriad of Star Wars titles, including, Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. If you’re waiting for an open-world Star Wars game, well, you just might be waiting forever.