Releasing today, November 17, across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in North America, Star Wars Battlefront very much represents the beginning of a journey for its publisher EA. Citing its ten-year partnership deal with Disney, the company’s CFO Blake Jorgensen hinted at the potential for the future of the IP in the video game industry, including sequels to Battlefront and the fact that EA’s deal also covers the new trilogy and its Anthology series.
During the UBS Global Technology Conference in San Francisco (via GameSpot), Jorgensen touched base on EA’s massive plans for the Star Wars property, which will inevitably stretch across all gaming platforms.
“It’s a big effort for us, and I don’t think there’s a human being in the world who hasn’t heard of the Star Wars movie coming. And so, [it’s a] great opportunity,” Jorgensen said. “We struck a licensing deal with Disney a few years back that’s almost ten years in length. The game that comes out tomorrow, Star Wars Battlefront, is a traditional first-person style shooter game. Our goal is to make future Battlefront games as well as other style games around the Star Wars franchise, both on mobile as well as console and PC. It’s a huge opportunity for us.”
Battlefront notwithstanding, the other high-profile Star Wars game in development at the publisher is being headed up by Dead Space creators Visceral Games. Not much is known about the new title outside of its pirate themes, though this breaking off from the marquee Battlefront branding is emblematic of EA’s approach to what many consider to be the biggest license in entertainment.
[zerggaming]But perhaps most interesting of all is the fact that the publisher’s deal with Disney encompasses the new cinematic trilogy. We’ll see the fruits of that deal with December’s Battle of Jakku DLC, and it could be the start of numerous tie-ins with The Force Awakens and potentially next year’s Rogue One moving forward.
“We get access to all of the historical content as well as all the new content developed,” Jorgensen said. “The beauty of the Star Wars franchise is it’s almost unlimited in what you can do with it. We know Disney has done a great job with other franchises and we believe they’ll do the same with Star Wars over time in delivering new worlds, new characters, new vehicles, all the things that make great video games. Our goal is not to make video games directly about the movies, it’s to use the IP in the movie to make great, exciting games.”
Star Wars Battlefront launches today, November 17, across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in North America. It’ll make its way across the pond in time for an EU launch on November 20.