(allegedly with pressure from Disney
itself) to entirely restructure the
game’s business model post-launch.
Public reaction was severe enough
to not only damage EA’s stock price,
but to serve as a major catalyst
in government bodies worldwide
investigating the practices of
lootboxes, and in some cases even
bringing major regulation to bear that
has begun to damage other areas
of the business. Just recently, new
Belgian laws have forced the removal
of lootboxes from FIFA in the country.
War stories
So EA is left with a multiplayer series
so tarnished in the public perception
that we’ll likely never see a third
entry, a single-player game that the
company can’t decide what to do
with, and a wildcard conspicuously
announced long before there was
anything ready to show of it. It’s a
sticky position to be in, and a far cry
from where you might have expected
the company to end up way back
when the Star Wars deal was struck.
It’s hard not to conclude that the
partnership between EA and Disney
is, for whatever reason, not a healthy
one. Neither party seems to have
reaped much benefit in the last six
THE FALL GUY
The sad fate of a great sequelRespawn’s Titanfall 2 was a critical darling, with
reviewers full of praise for both its single-player
campaign and multiplayer modes. But despite all that
good press, it was a major flop sales-wise – a fact that
may well have contributed to the studio choosing not
to make a Titanfall 3.
So why didn’t it sell? The fault seems to be with EA’s
launch day for the game. Out on 28 October 2016, it
competed directly not only with Call Of Duty: Infinite
Warfare, out the following week, but also with EA’s own
Battlefield 1, released the week before. Crushed
between two more established shooters, it’s hard to
see how it could ever have succeeded.
The question is: why release it on that day, knowing it
would likely sabotage its chances? It’s hard to know
EA’s reasoning, but it’s possible the publisher was
hoping to crowd Call Of Duty out of the market by
providing both a historical and a sci-fi alternative.HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT EA? TELL US AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/OXMUK
ABOVE The
Titanfall games
take the tight,
fast-paced
shooting of COD
and splice it
with mechs and
parkour.
RIGHT With the
huge success of
Fortnite, every
games company is
now seeking its
own battle
royale mega-hit.years, but more importantly as fans
we’re missing out on great new Star
Wars games. Perhaps if the
franchise were open to more
developers, rather than shackled to
EA, we might see titles as impactful
as Knights Of The Old Republic,
Rogue Squadron, and Jedi Knight.
Despite everything, in a recent
earnings call Disney CEO Bob Iger was
upbeat about the situation. “We’ve
had good relationships with some of
those we’re licensing to, notably EA
and the relationship on the Star Warsproperties,” he said. We’re not sure
anyone else would agree.
It’s certainly notable that, after all
this time focusing on Star Wars to
little avail, EA’s saving grace this year
appears to be Apex Legends – not
a licensed property, or even a direct
sequel, but rather an unexpected and
under-the-radar twist on one of their
own original IPs.
All said, this won’t be a quiet year
for EA. Between its battle royale
success and Star Wars stumbles,
expect plenty more news to come. QMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 011