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What Visceral's Closing Means For The Future Of EA

Dead and gone.

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23 Comments

Earlier this week, publisher EA announced it was shuttering Visceral Games, in a "pivot" that would help the studio's Star Wars game change course.

In the words of EA's Patrick Soderlund, "it was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure," and to make a game that players will "enjoy for a long time to come," EA needed to make changes.

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Now Playing: The End Of Visceral And The Future Of EA - The Lobby

Soderlund also said as much of Visceral's staff as possible will be moved to other projects, and EA Worldwide will take over development of the Star Wars title from here on out.

Considering the news, we felt it was appropriate to look back over Visceral's history, from its early days as EA Redwood Shores, to the final days of the Dead Space trilogy. In the above video (taken from our live show The Lobby, every Wednesday at 11 a.m. PT), we discuss what Visceral's closing means for the future of EA, single-player story-based games, and Star Wars games in general.

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Visceral Games
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KhanWasHere

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KhanWasHere

R.I.P. games made for real gamers....

3 • 
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Aggie1295

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Aggie1295

I want to purchase a game, not a service. I'm not that interested nor do I have enough time to play multiplayer only games. Part of the reason I haven't purchased Star War Battlefront is because it has no real single player game. What is EA thinking?

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Thanatos2k

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Thanatos2k

More generic crap with microtransactions, obviously.

8 • 
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Soliaired50

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Soliaired50

I think the last EA game I bought was Skate 3 way back in 2010...so I certainly wouldn't mind if EA were to suffer the same fate as Visceral.

8 • 
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Rambolike

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Rambolike

I hope at least we can get Dead Space 1 and 2 remasters? I'd love to play those again. EA sucks elephants' balls.

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Fartman7998

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Edited By Fartman7998

Was there supposed to be a video on this page? I don't see it....

Dead Space 1 and 2 were classics. Dead Space 3 was just a notch or two above garbage, I'm afraid to say. I hate myself for using that word, but that's how I feel about it; the game's micro-transactions, co-op, and action focus bastardized it. I feel bad for Visceral because they did good mostly. Dante's Inferno is way underrated in my opinion.

5 • 
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uncle5555

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uncle5555

@Fartman7998: Interesting how everyone seems to be forgetting Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel when they mention the games the studio made, it was a good time, but not amazing game that I played through with my nephew.

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alaannn

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alaannn

@Fartman7998: the godfather games were good aswell

2 • 
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Fartman7998

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Fartman7998

@alaannn: Never played them. I feel like I should now.

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alaannn

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alaannn

@Fartman7998: the storyline isnt that good but the gameplay is good the dons view in the godfather 2 has lots of replayability

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Rambolike

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Rambolike

@Fartman7998: Oh yes, Dante's Inferno is a fabulous game, so much fun. EA sucks, I really don't know what else to say about it. I refuse to buy any games under their banner.

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Fartman7998

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Fartman7998

@Rambolike: Yeah, EA is kinda rubbing me wrong too.

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Nexzy

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Edited By Nexzy

the only thing i'm concerned about is Dead Space 4.

2 • 
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Xristophoros

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Xristophoros

@Nexzy: why? it's never happening.

4 • 
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Rambolike

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Rambolike

@Xristophoros: It's possible that it could be resurrected later; look at Darksiders? Everyone thought it was dead until they announced the 3rd installment. Never say never.

4 • 
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MigGui

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MigGui

@Rambolike: Darksiders was dead because its developer and publisher went bankrupt. Then someone else bought the franchise and resurrected it. It is certainly not the same thing as Mass Effect and Dead Space, two franchises owned by EA and put in "hiatus" after the closing of their respective studios.

Obviously, EA can and probably will make them come back at some point, I'd bet as a reboot instead of a sequel. But it is not the same thing.

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Samurai1313

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Samurai1313

@Rambolike: yea mon we go back to the dark side lol

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R4gn4r0k

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R4gn4r0k

I fear for any EA studio, really.

And if Battlefronts lootboxes are anything to go by, I won't be buying many EA games in future.

7 • 
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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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Edited By deactivated-64efdf49333c4

It means EA wants to make more F2P-like games that are not, in fact, F2P, but for some reason people think these games are better just because they aren't F2P despite having a $70 price tag and all of the same shady practises driving them.

3 • 
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straightcur

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straightcur

It means that it will be business as usual and nothing will really be noticed. Also this article offers no insight or any value to the readers at all. Complete waste of time.

2 • 
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Pyrosa

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Pyrosa

Looks like SWBF2 will be the last EA title for me. Nothing else worth playing on the horizon.

2 • 
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Thanatos2k

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Thanatos2k

@Pyrosa: Why waste your money on that scam?

3 • 
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everson_rm

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everson_rm

@Pyrosa: To tell you the truth, i was super hyped to play SWBF2, but, i'll give them my middle finger and wont buy this product.

9 •