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Since EA acquired the exclusive rights to make Star Wars video games back in 2013, the publisher hasn't done a lot of good with it. So far, we've had two questionable Battlefront games and one cancelled single-player project. Now it seems that the backlash to Battlefront II may have been so bad that it has sent Disney/Lucasfilm into the arms of other game publishers.
This week, a report popped up on Cinelinx, who claim to have a source familiar with what's going on. From what they've heard, Lucasfilm and Disney are upset about not just the fallout from Battlefront II, but also the cancellation of Visceral's Star Wars game, which fans were very excited about. After these events, Lucasfilm executives reportedly met with EA's heads to discuss things, but even so, the company has also apparently reached out to Ubisoft and Activision about a potential licensing deal.
EA currently holds an exclusivity contract for Star Wars video games. Supposedly, this contract contains a clause that would allow Disney to retract it if certain standards aren't met.
Even if Lucasfilm is discussing licensing with other major publishers, that doesn't necessarily mean that EA will lose the Star Wars license any time soon. It would likely take a long and tricky legal process to get the ball rolling and then if the license was handed over to another publisher, it would take quite some time for them to get new projects up and running.
As always when it comes to anonymous sources, this should be taken with a pinch of salt. However, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think that other options are being considered after the drama back in November.
KitGuru Says: As much as I'd like to see some Star Wars games made outside of the Battlefront series, I'm not sure Ubisoft or Activision would necessarily be the right choice to pass the license on to. Still, everything here is pretty much hypothetical at this point, as no solid moves have been made either way. As far as we know, EA may end up keeping hold of the license despite all of the upset.
