Back in 2013, Electronic Arts and Disney agreed on a deal that would give the publisher exclusive rights to make Star Wars videogames through 2023. After Disney revitalized Lucasfilm Games and expanded its partnerships with other publishers, however, there is no more exclusivity.
Initially, Lucasfilm’s collaboration with Bethesda’s MachineGames to create a new Indian Jones game didn’t mean much, but earlier today, the company revealed that Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment would be working on a “brand-new, story-driven, open world ‘Star Wars’ adventure.”
That brings nearly eight years of EA’s Star Wars exclusivity to a close, but it doesn’t mean that the partnership won’t continue.
Both EA and Lucasfilm have confirmed there are multiple Star Wars games still being worked on by various EA studios, including Respawn Entertainment, the team behind Jedi Fallen Order and Apex Legends.
“EA has been and will continue to be a very strategic and important partner for us now and going forward,” Disney senior VP of games, Sean Shoptaw said to WIRED. “We did feel like there’s room for others.”
With the end of this exclusivity deal, Lucasfilm will continue exploring new partnerships and ideas with “the finest studios across the industry.” The company will still continue to support and work with EA across multiple projects, both new and old.
