[GameSpot] - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order -- EA Confirms It Will Continue To Invest In The Series

[343iBot]

Electronic Arts have confirmed in its latest earnings call that it has plans to develop and invest in developer Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, turning it into a new franchise for the publisher while it continues to invest in other games such as BioWare's Mass Effect series.

"Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order coming to the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 was also a moment for new and returning players to jump into that amazing game," EA CEO and Director Andrew Wilson said to investors during the conference call. "We're continuing to invest in both of these franchises as well as more of our amazing IP."

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order represented a change of strategy for EA when it was first released, as the company's first effort since it gained the Star Wars IP license in the 2010s was to develop the multiplayer-focused games Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II.

In comparison, Fallen Order was a more traditional single-player adventure that wasn't packed with controversial loot boxes, something which Battlefront II suffered from when it was first released.

The strategy worked, as the game sold more than 8 million copies by the end of January 2020, and more than 10 million units were sold by March 31, 2020, exceeding EA's own expectations. Out of the top-selling and highest-earning Star Wars video games in the US, Fallen Order came in second place behind 2015's Battlefront.

A recent upgrade for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S was also made available for free, bumping Fallen Order's visuals up with higher-resolution textures and assets, 4K and HDR resolution, and improved 60 FPS performance.

As for the future of Star Wars games with EA, the company previously tweeted more news will come next year, where it will "share [its] vision for the Galaxy far, far away."

EA will have some competition though, as LucasFilm revealed that it had recruited Ubisoft to develop a new open-world Star Wars game.

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