Today, during Electronic Arts' quarterly conference call for investors and analysts, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson commented on the closure of Visceral Games and the reboot of the Star Wars action-adventure game that the studio had in the works.
Wilson mentioned that closing a studio is a very tough decision that the company takes very seriously. It's also a decision that they spend a lot of time working through before ultimately making it.
Yet, it does happen from time to time as part of the creative process.
Testing the game with actual players and tracking the evolution of the market, it had become clear to Electronic Arts that to deliver a game that players will want to come back to for a long time, the design needed to be pivoted.
Wilson also denied that the change was made due to a conversation of single-player versus multiplayer or single player versus live services. The issue wasn't that the game was single-player and needed to be a live service. It was about getting "to a point where the overall gameplay experience is right for players."
That being said, EA still "believes strongly" in the Star Wars IP, and they're still "very happy" with some of the assets and content created by Visceral for its Star Wars game, and they're looking how to "better utilize that in line with players' and fans' expectations in the future."
If you want to read more about Visceral's closure, you can check out our dedicated article, and also learn more about the game they were working on.