EA has shut down Visceral Games

EA Vancouver seems like the new lead on Star Wars

Visceral Games is set to close its doors in the very near future. Electronic Arts has opted to close the studio that’s most well-known for the Dead Space series and Battlefield Hardline.

For the past few years, Visceral has been working on a Star Wars title under the lead of creative director Amy Hennig. That game is going to be reworked into something different and the project will be moved to another studio.

EA explains what this means for Star Wars in a statement by executive vice president Patrick Söderlund:

Our Visceral studio has been developing an action-adventure title set in the Star Wars universe. 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 re-imagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.

EA Vancouver is the team that’s explicitly mentioned as leading on the new Star Wars title, but it seems as if EA will disperse duties across the entire company. The shift also means that it won’t launch in fiscal year 2019 anymore; EA says it’ll have a new timeframe for release sometime in the future.

EA also mentions that it’s in the process of trying to place Visceral employees on different teams and projects. We here at Destructoid wish the best to former Visceral folks, and hope everyone lands on their feet without the transition process being too stressful.

An Update on the Visceral Star Wars Project [Electronic Arts]