EA supposedly won't let BioWare make more Knights of the Old Republic games

By Asher Madan
last updated

EA is at it again.

It's not a surprise that EA hasn't managed its exclusive rights to the Star Wars franchise well this generation. While the original Xbox and Xbox 360 saw a tremendous amount of Star Wars content, EA has only managed to release the mediocre Star Wars Battlefront games which haven't been well-received by critics or gamers. Star Wars Battlefront II featured egregious pay-to-win microtransactions which caused various governments to crack down on the practice. However, that's not all. Recently, a troubling report emerged which said that EA wasn't allowing BioWare to make any more Knights of the Old Republic games.

According to Kotaku's Jason Schreier (via Den of Geek), BioWare has repeatedly asked EA for permission to make a new Knights of the Old Republic game, but the executives at the parent company keep on denying that request. As with any such rumor, treat it with a grain of salt, but from what we've seen in recent months, there may be some truth to this.

Knights of the Old Republic is widely regarded as one of the best ever Star Wars games.

Knights of the Old Republic is widely regarded as one of the best ever Star Wars games.

Many months ago, EA closed Visceral Games. The team was working on a linear Star Wars game that Star Wars writer Gary Whitta said would've been the franchise's Uncharted. A few days ago, EA cancelled the open-world Star Wars game at EA Vancouver — a title which was seen as an expansion of the Visceral Star Wars project — in favor of a small-scale title which could launch early. Instead of delivering a game that would've lived up to the legacy of the franchise, the company is content with releasing smaller titles in order to increase revenue.

Right now, it seems like there are only two single-player Star Wars games in development at EA. Respawn is working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and EA Vancouver just started work on a smaller title. DICE may be developing Star Wars Battlefront III, but given the underwhelming reception of the past two, it's probably not the title gamers and critics want.

What do you think of this whole saga — or fiasco — whatever you want to call it? Let us know.

Asher Madan
Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.

23 Comments
  • Well...you reap what you sow...Disney went with the highest bidder and this is what they got...horrible.
  • This will surely get a customer response in time!
  • Disney have destroyed Star Wars on the big screen. And this is what happens when they then choose to go with the highest bid. Instead of credentials for the games. Star Wars is all but dead at this point in time. What have Disney done.
  • And South Park predicted this years and years ago.
  • No problem, there are plenty of decent star wars games on backwards compatibility. Hopefully more with time.
  • Not surprised at all. I suspect Anthem will bomb and EA will close down Bioware as a result.
  • Probably a good chance. I get the impression it's going to be a lot like Destiny. Though I haven't been following it closely.
  • They should just release a racing game and call it Need for stars or some **** like that. They can even add micro transactions in the way of decals for the vehicles and some other ****.
  • Except that the recent Need for Speed games already have an ungodly amount of microtransactions, and if you don't wanna spend on the 'lootboxes' for better car parts you gotta grind your way through like 30 races to be able to be even with the "boss" racer.
  • I'm disappointed, but not surprised. KotOR were two of my favorite games of all time. However, this may be a good thing as Bioware isn't the company it used to be, EA made sure of that one.
  • Yeah...it seems like gaming in general is moving away from story-based, single player experiences in favor if MMO gaming. Too bad, but if we expect game companies to follow the money, then it only makes sense.
  • No it's not, if anything the MMO genre has declined in recent years.
  • If you want single player, story driven games, the PS4 is probably a safer bet.
  • You should probably get a Playstation if you prefer single player games.
  • EA only wants games where they can make extra money off you. I wish prices of videogames went up and we stop getting these mobile like ideas in console games. I am more than happy to pay70-80 dollars for games. That means we get games with no micro-transactions and less games come out. I hate that everything has to be an open world 100hr game, what happen to great narrative driven games. That's why I love my switch, get the games I enjoyed playing. I hope EA sinks
  • Hey Chief, Just an aside to what you're saying. Games are already way beyond the $60 price point. If you want the full game you need to pay at least $80-$90 if you want all the release content, or $100-$200 if you want the release content and future content. Finally even if the price of game went up from $60 EA would still place micro transactions into their games because it still wouldn't be enough money for their greed. The whole excuse that "games are too expensive to make," is just that, an excuse for them to hide behind while they develop these crappy systems to drain their customers of even more money.
    If you need proof just look at Activision who is mass firing employees while giving their new CFO $15 million worth of bonuses.
  • Do you seriously think they'll get rid of microtransactions/DLC... if the game was at 70-80 or even 100 bucks?? LOL
    Here we have gold edition of games that cost a lot more and the people who bought this still need to pay for microtransactions and lootbox...
    Ofc they'll not stop doing it, why? Because they want all the money...
  • Good ifbEA fails enough in the future it'll be up for grabs for MS... And they have an extensive franchise portfolio it could be a bad for a good in the long run... Wishful thinking much but who knows...
  • BW is not the game dev that it used to be; I wouldn't trust them to make another SW game either in their current state. They had their chance with SWTOR but that back-fired hard due to performance and endgame limitations. They had multiple chances to fix SWTOR but in every case they've just made major and pompous mistakes - doubling down on cut scene presentations (and later grinds) over player involvement and player fun were the least of them. I'm not saying it's easy to be a game dev today but I am saying EABW has been proven to be wrong over and over; they don't deserve Star Wars.
  • EA (like ever other publisher) has seen the massive success of FORTNIGHT and is desperately "following the crowd" trying to figure out how to cash in by riding it's coattails (somehow.)
    MMOBAs are now seen as the "future" so the bean counters at EA are demanding everything go that route (they totally missed the whole PUBG wave, and now their investors are demanding they "follwo the pack" and put out their own FORTNIGHT. NOW!)
    This lurching from one meme to the other is the hallmark of a poorly run company, but it's what you get with EA (only Blizzard seems immune to this, and even they are wavering in the face of FORTNIGHT's $2 Billion in income this year!)
    Just like the movie industry, they are all chasing the "LAST BIG THING" and will arrive late, with a mediocre clone that no one will purchase.
  • Kotaku had a great take on this that’s fairly believable IMO: The new guy running EA doesn’t want anything to do with third party properties. The Star wars deal was made before his time and any successful items EA makes just puts them further in the trench with LucasArts/Disney. If EA makes a good Old Republic game they’d have to pay for the Star Wars licence again down the road to keep making them, making the deal less and less worthwile as Disney takes its cut due to how expensive these games are to make. Sticking to their own IP means they keep all the profits and they can put the game on Origin in perpetuity. Makes the most sense to me, it’s the most realistic explaination for why EA just isn’t touching the franchise. Don’t be surprised if they try back out of the contract early or stick to one game a year just to make back what they paid for the SW license
  • EA = Everlasting Agony
  • SWKOTOR 1&2 were and still are the best star wars games in the whole star wars I grew up on it and I am always waiting for the third one to come out if they want to keep us from playing what we enjoy then fine I shall never play their games the good games of the past is all I and my fellow soldiers need for the way it was built is better then anything made now days.