Ubisoft Massive and Lucasfilm Games partner on open world Star Wars game, EA exclusivity has ended

By Samuel Tolbert
published

The galaxy appears open for new possibilities.

Star Wars Squadrons X Wing Image
Star Wars Squadrons X Wing Image (Image credit: EA)

What you need to know

  • EA had an exclusive license to develop Star Wars games.
  • Recently, Disney introduced the Lucasfilm Games brand for future games based on Lucasfilm properties.
  • Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment is now working on an open world Star Wars game with Lucasfilm Games.

EA has had an exclusive license to work on different Star Wars games over the last eight years, producing titles such as the newest Battlefront games, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars: Squadrons. Thanks to Wired, we've learned that Disney via Lucasfilm Games is partnering with Ubisoft Massive on an open world Star Wars game.

When Wired asked about what has happened with the EA partnership, they didn't get specific information but only confirmation that Disney is now working with multiple development partners. "EA has been and will continue to be a very strategic and important partner for us now and going forward," said Sean Shoptaw, senior vice president of Global Games and Interactive Experiences at Disney. "But we did feel like there's room for others."

Shoptaw added that "For us to go capture the amount of quality that exists in the world and be fast to market, it would be a big challenge for us to do that internally."

Lucasfilm Games isn't just partnering for Star Wars titles, with an announcement yesterday revealing that Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames are now recruiting for an Indiana Jones title. It's currently unknown what this means for the Avatar game that Massive Entertainment is working on, though presumably it's still in some form of early development.

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Samuel Tolbert
Samuel Tolbert

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

9 Comments
  • Now we know, where the next Assassins Creed game will take place. In Galaxy Far Far Away! Excited to see what Ubisoft can do with the IP. Thank God, Disney is making away from EA.
  • This is unfortunate. Ubisoft makes some of the most unoptimized worst performing games out there.
    And to make it worse they dont even look that good.
  • What are you talking about with the visuals? I'm playing AC Origins finally and it looks great.
  • I'll agree, that optimization is an opportunity for many of Ubisoft games. But visually, they make some beautiful games. Assassins creed Valhalla, Watch dogs, immortal Fenix rising look good. Origins, Odyssey were visually impressive games.
  • I think you meant to reply to cknobman and not make a new comment
  • Have to say I am a bit unsure how to feel. I don't want an AC style Star Wars game. Also Jedi Fallen Order was a pretty great game and deserved a sequel. I assume Lucasfilm wants a yearly drop of Star Wars which I believe is too much
  • Maybe they can do an AC style game where you hunt Jedi? I think there needs to be much more stories told from the bad guy's side.
  • I'd like to see some kind of Star Wars game with a KOTOR kinda vibe/era. That plays similar to AC, RDR2 or the Witcher 3. Though I wouldn't mind a style similar to Pillars of Eternity or Divinity Original Sin as well.
  • You know what? I don't want to be a Jedi, make me a Bounty hunter, or a smuggler, or whatever. But just give us something that isn't solely focused on Jedi and lightsabers for a change.