Star Wars Project Demise Due To “Team Health” Issues At Visceral, Not Single-Player Focus
http://wccftech.com/star-wars-visceral-cancellation-team-health/
Last week, EA sent shockwaves through the industry when they canned Visceral Games’ anticipated single-player Star Wars title, shuttering the acclaimed studio in the process. Led by former Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig, the project had been pitched as Star Wars meets Uncharted from the makers of Dead Space, which sounds amazing. How could such a surefire combination go wrong? An official statement from EA hinted the game may have been cancelled because it was too linear, or lacked trendy online features, leading to a flood of panicked editorials about the impending demise of single-player games. Turns out the truth is more straightforward – the game simply wasn’t very good.
Kotaku has posted a lengthy insider report about what went wrong with Visceral’s Star Wars game, codenamed Ragtag, and a vendetta against single-player games is not the smoking gun. In fact, EA executive vice president Patrick Söderlund specifically shot down the anti-single-player theories.