EA Officially Announces They Are Shutting Down Visceral Games
After eight years in the business, Electronic Arts announces it will be closing down Visceral Games. Originally known EA Redwood Shores from 1998 to 2008, the studio changed names in 2009 where it would go on to create titles like the Dead Space series, Dante’s Inferno, and Battlefield: Hardline. After working on a project based in the Star Wars Universe and hearing feedback from focus test groups on the project, the parent studio decided important changes needed to be made. Patrick Söderlund, who is the Executive Vice President of Electronic Arts, had the following to say about the project in a blog post:
Our industry is evolving faster and more dramatically than ever before. The games we want to play and spend time with, the experiences we want to have in those games, and the way we play…all those things are continually changing. So is the way games are made. In this fast-moving space, we are always focused on creating experiences that our players want to play…and today, that means we’re making a significant change with one of our upcoming titles.
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. 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.
From Söderlund post, we can see that the importance of making a change based on feedback from their audience is important. So much so they feel that even bigger changes need to be made as a whole to subsidiary studios. One of these changes is a complete reorganization of the team currently assigned to Visceral Games:
This move leads to a few other changes:
A development team from across EA Worldwide Studios will take over development of this game, led by a team from EA Vancouver that has already been working on the project. Our Visceral studio will be ramping down and closing, and we’re in the midst of shifting as many of the team as possible to other projects and teams at EA.
Lastly, while we had originally expected this game to launch late in our fiscal year 2019, we’re now looking at a new timeframe that we will announce in the future.
Bringing new Star Wars games to life for every passionate fan out there is what drives us as creators. It’s what has inspired us to deliver the massive new Star Wars Battlefront II experience launching in just a few weeks. It fuels our live service in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes. Making games in the extraordinary Star Wars universe is truly a dream for so many of us at EA, and we have so many more experiences to come for players on every platform. We want to take the time to get each game right, to make it unique, to make it amazing.
We look forward to answering more of your questions, and sharing more on our plans and timeline for this new Star Wars experience, in the months to come.
After nineteen years, two studio names, and twenty-five different titles, we say goodbye to Visceral Games. Fans will have to wait and see how this reorganization improves their Electronic Art’s experience.
What do you think about the closing of Visceral Games? Do you think this reorganization is something that EA? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below, and don’t forget to check out DFTG on Twitter for gaming and entertainment news live 24/7!
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Matt Ruppert715 Posts
Navy Veteran with a penchant for the FPS genre, Chewy has all aspects of the gaming community covered. Don't expect to see him on a console any time soon, however - though he has experience in all platforms, the PC Master Race has a firm hold on him.
