EA Shuts Down Visceral; Upcoming 'Star Wars' Game Being Changed

Electronic Arts has announced that it is closing down Visceral Games. Because of this, Visceral’s “Star Wars” game has been delayed indefinitely and will now be overhauled to become something that might be entirely new.

“Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. 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,” EA executive vice president Patrick Söderlund wrote in a blog post.

“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.”

Visceral’s “Star Wars” game was first announced last year by EA. A concept art and an early in-game footage was briefly shown in EA’s “A Look Ahead” promotional video on YouTube. At the time, Visceral’s game was described as an action adventure game. The studio is known for developing the “Dead Space” series as well as a couple of entries in the “Battlefield” franchise.

Not much is known about Visceral’s untitled “Star Wars” game, but some leaks did provide fans some insight on what it was supposed to be about. Back in June, IBT reported that the game was being called internally as “Project Ragtag” and that the protagonist was being played by “Gotham” actor Todd Stashwick. His character is an Imperial army draft dodger and a survivor of Alderaan who’s been mixed up in the criminal underworld of the “Star Wars” galaxy.

Visceral’s “Star Wars” game was supposed to launch during EA’s 2019 fiscal year, which runs from April 2018 through March 2019, as pointed out by Polygon. With the game studio being shut down by EA, the game has now been delayed indefinitely. Söderlund said that EA will announce a new timeframe sometime in the future.

Söderlund also said that EA Worldwide Studios will now take over development of Visceral’s “Star Wars” game. A team from EA Vancouver, which has already been working on the project, will be taking the lead in the game’s development. The executive added that many members of Visceral’s team are going to be shifted to other projects and other teams within EA.

What remains unclear however is Amy Hennig’s future at EA. Hennig joined Visceral back in 2014 to direct and write the new “Star Wars” game. An EA spokesperson said in an email that the company is still in discussions with Hennig “about her next move,” according to Kotaku. Hennig is mostly known for being the creative director for Naughty Dog and working on the “Uncharted” series.