Even if Electronic Arts no longer has the exclusive rights to produce Star Wars games, the American publisher does not intend to stop exploiting this license so lucrative. CEO Andrew Wilson raised the subject during an exchange with shareholders, revealing in passing some figures.
With the return of the Lucasfilm Games label, future Star Wars video games will no longer be solely developed by Electronic Arts. Disney should multiply non-exclusive external partnerships, the American giant having chosen Ubisoft in particular to develop a Star Wars game in the open world. A new Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, which would not be developed by EA, is also at the heart of the rumors. Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, was asked about the implications of this change for the publisher:
The fact that other people are going to make Star Wars games does not change our commitment to this license or our ability to produce the adequate number of games. We have a long-standing partnership with Disney (…) You can expect additional investments in Star Wars. This partnership has been very profitable so far with over three billion dollars generated (…) We should not necessarily expect a drop in the number of games. Andrew Wilson, PDG d’Electronic Arts.
Andrew Wilson specifies that Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes free-to-play mobile, which features turn-based combat with characters from all Star Wars eras, generated over a billion dollars on its own since its launch in 2015.
EA also discloses having sold a total of 52 million Star Wars games. Signed in 2013, its partnership with Disney saw the birth of two new Star Wars Battlefront (DICE), Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (Respawn) and Star Wars Squadrons (EA Motive), but has also been marked by significant cancellations (Viking project , Ragtag / Orca project). The publisher also takes care of the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO developed by Bioware since 2011.
The editor already has “a number of projects” Star Wars in preparation, including a priori the successor to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player action-adventure game that has exceeded expectations.