This past week, EA decided to cancel its second Star Wars game in less than two years, with EA Vancouver's open-world project, codenamed Orca, bringing development to a full stop. This follows a similar story from last year with the now-defunct Visceral Games, which was closed following the cancellation of its linear, narrative-driven game also set in a galaxy far, far away. While the public hasn't seen much outside of a few concept pieces from the game, another writer responsible for adding to the lore of Star Wars has given his insight into Visceral Games' then-ambitious project.

Speaking on Kinda Funny Games Daily, writer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Gary Whitta shed some light on Visceral Games' Star Wars project, codenamed Ragtag. Given the game's development was being head by Amy Henning, the creator of Naughty Dog's Uncharted franchise, Whitta expressed how the two properties showed many parallels in their storytelling, while also scrutinizing EA's handling of the Star Wars video game license over the past six years.

"If I were Disney, I'd be f***ing furious. I saw a bunch of that game (Ragtag), and it looked terrific. It would have been Star Wars Uncharted."

ragtag concept art star wars

There's good reason for people to question the way EA has handled the Star War gaming license since it was acquired back in 2013. Outside of the two cancelled projects from Visceral Games and EA Vancouver, 2015's Star Wars Battlefront felt like a experience with cut corners, offering no single-player campaign and feeling like a rushed project to get out in time before Star Wars: The Force Awakens released in theaters later that year. In 2017, EA again fell into controversy thanks to Star Wars Battlefront 2's predatory loot box system, leading to a decline in sales compared to its predecessor.

As for games being worked on now, EA Vancouver has begun development on a smaller-scale Star Wars title, which it hopes to release sometime in 2020. Those who can't wait until then for a new Star Wars game are in luck however, as Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was mentioned for the first time during last year's EA Play press conference, and is expected to launch this Fall. EA currently holds the rights to making Star Wars games until the year 2023.

Visceral's Star Wars game was in development for unspecified platforms.

Source: Kinda Funny Games Daily