author: Konrad Serafinski
Screenwriter of Rogue One criticizes recent Star Wars game cancellation
The news about cancellation of a game set in the Star Wars world created by EA Vancouver has been widely spread throughout the industry. The discussion was joined by Gary Whitta, scriptwriter of the Star Wars: Rogue One.
Star Wars lovers cannot complain about the lack of attractions these days (unfortunately, not all of the are nice). Gary Whitta, screenwriter of the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Stories, was the special guest of the Kinda Funny Games channel daily program. The main theme of the meeting was the news about cancellation of an open-world Star Wars game developed by EA Vancouver. The screenwriter of the first film from the Stories series commented on the activities of Electronic Arts in less than cordial words.
The writer accuses EA of "disastrous management" of the Star Wars license and states that it would be best if the company give it back. He explains the whole situation as follows:
The deal was signed in 2013. It’s 10 year deal. So, we’re pretty much just over half-way through the deal at this point. Let’s imagine I’m Bob Eger, the head of Disney. And I call in the EA guys have been doing, give us a progress report. “Well, we put out two Battlefront games, one of which didn’t have a story at all, both of which were kinda mediocre, and one of which ended up being a major, major embarrassment, because of the microtransaction fiasco.” (…) [Ragtag] Basically would have been Star Wars Uncharted… My understanding of what they were saying all the way through was, ‘But we don’t want to make Star Wars Uncharted.’ Well maybe don’t hire the narrative director from the Uncharted games to make it for you then! Like, figure out what it is you actually want. So they cancel that, they throw their resources into this other, more ambitious game, and then they cancel that! Ok, what else? Eee… nothing. That’s what we’ve got. That’s what we’re done in 5 years.”
As you can see, there is a lot of frustration in Gary Whitty's words. The same is true of the fans of the Star Wars saga, who definitely had some other vision for the franchise in the last dozen or so years. The last truly appreciated title from the world of Star Wars was KotOR II - The Sith Lords. It's a pity that the title had its released almost 15 years ago. Below you can see the entire episode of Kinda Funny Games Daily.
Who knows, maybe the words of the scriptwriter for one of the movies from the Star Wars universe will reach the ears of someone higher, which may perhaps lead to Disney ending its cooperation with Electronic Arts. Chances for this are rather slim, but here’s to believing. Naturally, EA still claims that the Star Wars brand remains one of their priorities.
Fans of Star Wars can only wait for another production, created by Respawn Entertainment. Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order has a chance to be released later this year. Let's hope it won't continue EA's bad streak. The title was announced on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.