EA’s soon-to-launch Star Wars Battlefront sounds like it’s getting a sequel or multiple sequels. Speaking today at the UBS Global Technology Conference in San Francisco, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen explained that EA’s 10-year licensing deal with Star Wars owner Disney will result in multiple Battlefront games, as well as others in different genres, planned to launch for both console, mobile, and PC.
“It’s a big effort for us, and I don’t think there’s a human being in the world who hasn’t heard of the Star Wars movie coming. And so, [it’s a] great opportunity,” Jorgensen said about Battlefront, which launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 17. “We struck a licensing deal with Disney a few years back that’s almost ten years in length. The game that comes out tomorrow, Star Wars Battlefront, is a traditional first-person style shooter game. Our goal is to make future Battlefront games as well as other style games around the Star Wars franchise, both on mobile as well as console and PC. It’s a huge opportunity for us.”
“The beauty of the Star Wars franchise is it’s almost unlimited in what you can do with it” — Jorgensen
Another upcoming EA-developed Star Wars game is the one Uncharted director Amy Hennig is working on now at Visceral Games. This project remains a mystery, though it is rumored to be an RPG of some kind.
Also during the presentation, Jorgensen confirmed that EA’s deal with Disney not only covers the six Star Wars films released to date (Battlefront focuses on the Original Trilogy), but also The Force Awakens and other upcoming core installments and spinoff entries in the series.
In addition, he reiterated that EA has no plans to make movie tie-ins.
“We get access to all of the historical content as well as all the new content developed,” Jorgensen said. “The beauty of the Star Wars franchise is it’s almost unlimited in what you can do with it. We know Disney has done a great job with other franchises and we believe they’ll do the same with Star Wars over time in delivering new worlds, new characters, new vehicles, all the things that make great video games. Our goal is not to make video games directly about the movies, it’s to use the IP in the movie to make great, exciting games.”
The only major rule that EA’s Star Wars games must adhere to is that they need to stay true to the franchise’s established fiction. “You can’t do something counter to Star Wars and that’s fine with us because I think that’s why people love Star Wars,” Jorgensen said.
Overall, Jorgensen described EA’s partnership with Disney as being “one of the best its ever seen.” He noted specifically that Disney has been very helpful in providing EA’s development team with the content and access they need to make great games.
Check back soon for GameSpot’s Battlefront review and more content around the game.