An EA press release announced today that Electionic Arts, universally considered to be the worst video game company in existence, has been contracted to produce several years worth of video games based on the Star Wars franchise. The move is bewildering to Star Wars fans and video gamers, who generally despise EA for it’s despicable DRM practices, greedy use of microtransactions, and continuous release of the exact same sports games every single year with no notable enhancements other than a new roster. However, Disney executives claim there is a method to their madness.
The worst fears of anti-corporation cynics in comic book fandom were realized today when Marvel Comics sent out a press release formally declaring their C2E2 booth to be the “only place to meet creators and win prizes” at the convention. Since Marvel was purchased by Walt Disney Co. in 2011, many have been waiting for Disney’s aggressive litigation strategies to start branching out into the comics industry, and Marvel’s announcement that they have trademarked both contests and creator interaction at C2E2 appears to be the opening shot by Walt and the Gang.
After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.
Less Marvel & Star Wars at SDCC?
Now that Disney owns Marvel and Star Wars, will they have a smaller footprint at SDCC in favor of Disney’s own D23 Expo?
The SDCC Unofficial Blog brought up some interesting thoughts today on how Disney’s ownership of Marvel and Star wars might effect what we see from them at SDCC.
Simple economics would seem to indicate that it is unwise of Disney to give something away free at a show other than their own; this is even more true when their own show is only three weeks later.
They go on to point out that even Marvel’s presence has not been the same since Disney bought them, the only exception being non-D23 Expo years, like last year when they had a huge Iron Man setup. In 2011, most of their huge Avengers moments were saved for their own Expo.
The Star Wars creator says that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford have been signed. Then he says they haven’t. + WWHulk shot down by Ruffalo…
Viewers and coworkers were very upset to learn that ABC plans to recast, you know, that guy who plays the Mad Hatter.
The Empire Strikes Back screenwriter gave the media no information about the new Star Wars movies, so they just made something up.
Okay, we get it. People are excited about the new Star Wars movies, first announced when Disney purchased Lucasfilm back in October. They’re happy that we’re going to get a new trilogy set after the events of the original trilogy, they’re happy that we’re going to get some spinoff movies set in the same universe…
Disney surprisingly confirmed that they are currently developing standalone “spin-off” Star Wars films that will focus on individual characters. On CNBC, Disney chief Bob Iger confirmed that Larry Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were working on Star Wars movies…
Fanboys everywhere were crushed yesterday when they learned that they would be denied the opportunity to not see the Star Wars Prequels in 3D.
