Star Wars Games: What EA Has Learned From the Batman Arkham Series

When you have the overbearing weight of turning a beloved IP such as Star Wars into a great video game franchise, you have to look at what's worked in the past. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson told Fortune in an interview that the publisher is looking to do what Warner Bros. did with the Batman: Arkhamseries.

"What Warner Bros. did with Batman was take the core roots of that IP and manifest that inside the walls of Gotham City and delivered an interactive experience that had real ties to what you would see in the films and what you had read in the comics, while having its own life because it could provide such deep and more immersive storylines. When we look at the Star Wars properties that's how we're looking at it," said Wilson.

He pretty much nailed the right approach on the head. Making a game that stands on its own two legs and doesn't depend on other forms of media to tell a captivating story is the right way to approach any licensed franchise. That Batman: Arkham capitalized on this so well is a big triumph for that slice of the market. Licensed games have more often than not been looked down upon as the money grab sector of the video game industry, and with good reason. The quality of/love put into these games is zero to none, making for an abysmal experience -- a disservice to loyal fans.

Wilson reiterated that the new Star Warsgames would not be connected in any way to the upcoming Disney movies. The upcoming games will have a life of their own, adding (not complementing) to the franchise's fictional universe.

Previously, I wrote a little reaction piece to EA's 10-year exclusive partnership with Disney. Needless to say, I wasn't very hopeful about future Star Warsgames. The promise of new games from awesome studios such as DICE, BioWare, and Visceral wasn't enough to convince me that EA was the right place of my favorite science fictional universe. EA had only a few weeks before dismantled one of my favorite game series Dead Space. Not to mention that The Old Republic didn't exactly deliver the game I wanted since Knights of the Old Republic 3 died a quiet death. Wilson's statements on how to approach this IP help, though. I'm not completely sold on these new games, but if they turn out anywhere near as good as the Batman: Arkhamgames, I'll be a happy camper.

What do you think? Let's chat in the comments.

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