Dead Space creator Visceral Games shut down; upcoming Star Wars game changes direction

[midian182]

Despite the weaknesses of the third entry, the Dead Space trilogy still holds a place in the hearts of many horror fans. Sadly, the studio behind all three titles, Visceral Games, is being shuttered by parent company Electronic Arts.

Visceral was also behind 2015’s Battlefield Hardline, but it was the team’s next project, the still-untitled Star Wars game, that people were really excited about. But according to a statement from EA vice president Patrick Soderlund, it’s about to undergo a “significant change.”

"Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe," Soderlund explains. "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."

Soderlund added that Visceral was “ramping down and closing,” with many of the staff moving to other EA projects and teams.

Uncharted director Amy Hennig had been brought on board to direct the Star Wars game. But an internal email obtained by Kotaku suggests she’s off the project, with EA executive producer Steve Anthony now leading the team.

It sounds as if Star Wars is moving away from an Uncharted-style linear adventure and will now embrace the lucrative “games as a service” model the industry so loves. While that could mean it contains plenty of paid content, updates, and even the dreaded loot boxes, it might also see the game turn into a Star Wars version of Destiny or Anthem, which also uses the Frostbite engine.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/71458-dead-space-creator-visceral-games-shut-down-upcoming.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Needed more lootboxes and microtransactions. I'll bet this single player game will now be a open world MMO style game with endless grinding.

 

[erickmendes]

Was going to say just that...

 

[mrtraver]

"it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game" sounds like the kind of game I might have paid for. I have no interest at all in a loot-box driven open world MMO, or really in any of those three components. I guess I'm old school, but I prefer mission based single player campaigns. Branching is fine, but I need some structure. I get overwhelmed by open-world games and end up not doing anything fun and then quitting.

 

[BSim500]

"While that could mean it contains plenty of paid content, updates, and even the dreaded loot boxes, it might also see the game turn into a Star Wars version of Destiny or Anthem, which also uses the Frostbite engine"

Actually that's pretty much what "closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace" means. Strike-through text is just naive wishful thinking. "Theinsanegamer" nailed it in first post ("grind for the sake of grind" gameplay that exists solely to sell de-grind / pay2levelup micro-transactions, a weaker fragmented "open" main story hiding behind a few sparkly bits, and 'depth' meaning ultra-repetitive DAI-style 'sidequest spam' to artificially pad out play-time).

 

[Alex Voinica]

"it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game" sounds like the kind of game I might have paid for. I have no interest at all in a loot-box driven open world MMO, or really in any of those three components. I guess I'm old school, but I prefer mission based single player campaigns. Branching is fine, but I need some structure. I get overwhelmed by open-world games and end up not doing anything fun and then quitting.

Almost completely agree. I need a beginning, a middle and an epic conclusion. If it is open world with side quests - make them interesting not just repetitive tasks to justify the open world.
One thing developers need to understand is that not all games need to be open world or MMO !
Look at Doom - they had that project with open - world which I am glad they abandoned and brought Doom back to its roots.
I love single player games - linear , non-linear it does not really matter as long as its entertaining, not asking for real money and crappy DLCs.

 

[Charlyi]

"Despite the weaknesses of the third entry, the Dead Space trilogy still holds a place in the hearts of many horror fans"

Awakened dlc on dead space 3 was great. I completely agree with mrtraver.

 

[Adhmuz]

Soon all games will be MMO in one way or another and feature micro-transactions, people aren't doing enough to make the developers realize this has gone too far. But really this should just make people who did get to enjoy gaming the way it was before this change embrace their roots that much more, it almost makes me sad to think kids aren't going to get the option and won't know any better in the future. Everything will be always online and the only way to be good will be to pay into the game, by then I'll be old enough to not really care, hopefully...

 

[ghostf1re]

Gaming just continues to move away from gamers in general. It's all about revenue and these companies (especially EA) simply don't care as long as their game gets good ratings initially. Nintendo seems to care more about the gamers than others.