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EA’s Shutdown of Visceral’s Star Wars Game - Sign o’ the Times?

Posted by Bret on 10/18/17 at 05:05 PM Category: Video Games
According to Polygon, EA's move to disband Visceral is a clear sign that the days are numbered for "big budget cinematic action games" designed around single-player campaigns. In EA's statement released yesterday, EA exec Patrick Söderlund noted that the game as it was initially designed (presumably a single-player adventure) did not hold up to early testing nor the "fundamental shifts in the marketplace." While not explicitly saying so, it seems clear that this means that EA decided that it would make more sense for them economically to move toward a multiplayer format and/or an in-game microtransaction economic model.

Polygon notes that while the costs to develop a hihg-caliber video game have risen, the model for microtransactions or add-on content has replaced the need to raise the price of the game out of the box:

...the retail price of a “full game” has stayed at $59.99 since the Xbox 360’s launch kicked off the previous console generation in 2005 — 12 years ago.


So the cost to buy a game off the shelf has not changed in over a decade (unlike Hasbro action figures...or pretty much anything else in life). But in order to hook players, the overall business model has changed dramatically. Players consistently complain about "wanting a finished game" out of the box, or about "pay-to-win" micro transactions that sap the competitive fun out of the game. But it seems that for the most part, this is just the way things are going to be going forward.

Polygon notes that this particular untitled Star Wars game from Visceral had been a huge investment for EA, as it had been in development since at least 2014. It would seem that EA made a decision that it wasn't worth continuing the project as is, and was willing to take the loss on the investment made to date because the economics just didn't pan out for the game going forward, after the planned release in 2019. The research must have...

...indicated to EA executives that it wasn’t worth it to keep throwing money into a game focused around a linear single-player campaign (i.e., a game that wouldn’t be conducive to long-term monetization).


There are examples of games that still fit the single-player cinematic campaign model, and a few of them are successful, but even those essentially have to come with a multi-player mode, even as an afterthought. Big time solo games from Rockstar Games, such as Grand Theft Auto 5, come with a multi-player feature that the company says is extremely lucrative. And their much anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2 will include a multiplayer mode complete with micro transactions. The question becomes, is it even worth it for these companies to invest in the solo games if all the money is made in the online modes? One thought is that solo games could succeed with cosmetic microtransactions, because who wouldn't pay 99 cents to have their clone trooper wear tie-dyed armor?

Finally, there is another threat to solo play: online streaming. You can now watch someone else play through story-mode of a game, and after a few minutes, decide you've seen enough.

It seems undeniable that some people — and it may be a small percentage of players, but they do exist — see enough of a game on platforms like Twitch and YouTube and decide that they’ve had their fill, that they don’t need to actually spend $60 on it.


Conversely, such streaming would probably convince some prospective buyers to pull the trigger, but Polygon believes that bigger studios like EA don't need this type of publicity.

In the end, it seems like our chances of a Knights of the Old Republic-style RPG, or even a Fallout-style adventure game, for an upcoming Star Wars video game are slim to none.








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