Visceral Games, makers of the Dead Space series, Battlefield: Hardline and an upcoming Star Wars singleplayer adventure, is no more. And while there has been an outpouring of concern for the affected employees and their livelihoods, there’s also been a torrent of anger directed at EA.
As announced earlier this morning, EA revealed it would be closing Visceral and transferring development of their Star Wars adventure to “a development team from across Worldwide Studios”.
That team, led by FIFA makers EA Vancouver, would alter the design of the game. EA mentioned in a blog post that they were “closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace” and that a new direction was necessary to “deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come”.
The explicit reference to “fundamental shifts in the marketplace” has drawn the ire of many this morning, with fans interpreting the message as EA wanting to inject more microtransactions and consumables, items that don’t traditionally fit with a linear, Uncharted-esque singleplayer experience.
Dear @EA you are gross. You killed @VisceralGames. And now you’re killing their Star Wars game by “pivoting the design with market trends” pic.twitter.com/WHLmlB1zBd
— Jesse Cox (@JesseCox) October 17, 2017
So EA adds another to the pile already littered with the rotting carcasses of Bullfrog, Westwood and others. Now add Visceral to the list.
— Logo Renard (@logokas) October 17, 2017
EA shut down Visceral, my favorite studio. Two years ago I predicted it in this very video. I knew EA would do it. https://t.co/XDCY6dhwRc
— Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) October 17, 2017
So Mass Defect Andromeda is a complete failure and Visceral gets shut down instead of BioWare? Get your fucking priorities straight @EA
— Anthøny (@ripe_withdecay) October 17, 2017
The Visceral news sucksss.
All over, studios/publishers will be taking less risks and making less games in the next few years, I think
— Ben Myres (@_benjamming) October 17, 2017
Devastated to see Visceral go. That studio means a lot to me. @amy_hennig is my hero. I’m nowhere without her. Best of luck to all my pals ?
— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) October 17, 2017
Remembering Visceral Games projects that I thoroughly enjoyed: Dead Space 1, 2, 3, Dante’s Inferno, Army of Two 2,
— Max Parker (@GameGuyPGH) October 17, 2017
“We should totally fire the studio that gave us one of the greatest horror games of all time” @EA #Visceral pic.twitter.com/j4ZRs07hDp
— Rob Young (@wayward_child) October 17, 2017
EA: *Sees Visceral’s Star Wars game*
*Game looks good*
*Closes studio*
“Whoa, we almost made the perfect SW game! Phew. That was close”
— Rob-Rule of 2 ReBOO! (@Ruleof2Review) October 17, 2017
Visceral’s Star Wars game was due for release in EA’s 2019 fiscal year. EA indicated in their blog post that that date is likely to change, but the project will continue albeit with a new direction.
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