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Petition Wants Lucasfilm to Revoke EA’s Star Wars License (Update: 150,000 signatures passed)

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Deleted member 21220

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Oct 28, 2017
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Seems fans have had enough of EA and Star Wars Battlefront and a petition has been launched on Change.org to get Lucasfilm to revoke EA's Star Wars licence.

After the recent controversy surrounding Star Wars Battlefront 2's loot box system, as well as the closing of Visceral Games and the transition of the studio's Star Wars title from a linear game to a "broader experience," it's safe to say that fans aren't too pleased with EA. Now, following the most recent wave of outrage, a new petition has surfaced online that encourages Lucasfilm to revoke EA's license to the Star Wars franchise.
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Source: gamerant

From the Change.org:
EA have had the Star Wars video game license for the last 4 years, and in that time they've proven to their consumers that they honestly don't care about the gameplay experience or content, they'd rather rush out a game that will try and milk as much money out of consumers as possible.
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The Petition's goal is 150,000 signatures, currently there is about 76,000 signatures.

UPDATE: Now over 100,000 signatures.

UPDATE 2: Hit the original goal of 150,000 signatures.
 
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KZXcellent

KZXcellent

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Oct 25, 2017
3,969
It won't happen but when the time comes to renew I hope Disney doesn't.

Don't give the Star Wars IP to one game company. Go the Marvel Games route and get developers from all of the gaming industry to make something. It'll lead to more variety and not the absolute mess we have with EA.
 
Filament Star

Filament Star

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I'm sure the contracts are such that they can't just revoke it.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

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Oct 25, 2017
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Nothing will come of this due to contractual obligations but hopefully it makes Disney/Lucasfilm decide not to renew. EA has done jackshit with it and deserves to lose the exclusivity.
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

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Nov 23, 2017
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All this bad publicity is going to work better than those signatures... And if it works, the world will be a better place.
 
hibikase

hibikase

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That's not how licensing contracts work. Especially large ones such as this.
 
test_account

test_account

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Oct 25, 2017
4,645
I dont think that the guy who made the petition know that Lucasfilms had weekly meetings with EA. Lucasfilms knew about all of this, so why would Lucasfilm revoke the license from EA?
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

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Piscus

Piscus

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Oct 27, 2017
1,767
Who cares if it will actually influence anything or not. I'll sign anyway.

edit: I don't think the purpose of the petition is to result in an actual revoke of the license. It's publicity. And people are already talking about it.
 
Abrasion Test

Abrasion Test

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Oct 27, 2017
1,767
This is hilariously dumb and naive. But logic sometimes tends to fly out the window in favor of pure hatred when it comes to shitting on EA.

BTW didn't Battlefront sell a ton of copies, and SWTOR and the Star Wars mobile game do really well? BF2 may be a black mark and the Visceral project is dead, but that's hardly enough reason to revoke a license.

I would much prefer if Lucas did a Marvel setup with their games though. I wonder if they have the knowledge of the industry or a team with enough experience to adequately invest in games in that manner though, hence the EA contract where much of the legwork is done for them.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
Why is it that people think Disney/Lucasfilm can unilaterally revoke EA's license?

The contract almost certainly is ironclad for all parties involved. Lucasfilm cannot just decide to take their ball and go home. Rescinding the license could expose them to, at the very least, tens of million dollars in damages. Possibly hundreds of millions, depending on when and how they pull out. They aren't going to eat that shit just because you are angry about Battlefront.

More than that, it'd damage their ability to license out Star Wars to other parties. Why should I pay top dollar to make Star Wars products if Lucasfilm can't be trusted to keep their word?
 

Deleted member 3815

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The petition is very naive as there is no way that Disney or Lucas Art wasn't aware of the Loot box situation.
 
Lynchian Anomaly

Lynchian Anomaly

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Oct 25, 2017
6,298
This won't change anything but it isn't a bad idea. I wouldn't be suprised if Disney don't re-up with them when contract renewal comes around. EA have really squandered a licence that many companies would kill for. We got BF1 which sold gangbusters but was a content empty experience, a game which spent years going nowhere and got a studio closed down, BF2 which was a PR clusterfuck. Not exactly great for what should essentially be a slam dunk excuse to print money.
 

Deleted member 5535

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Just like other petitions, this one is also stupid. One of the more stupids since there's a contract behind it.
 
MWorldII

MWorldII

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Oct 25, 2017
833
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EA released two Star Wars games. Both of them provoke some sort of bad reputation for the brand, which is bad for Disney itself: Battlefront 2015 hasn't enough content for it's price while having $50 season pass, and Battlefront 2017 lootboxes scandal. Also "players doesn't enjoy linear games so much, so we canceled Visceral's Star Wars game".

I think there's enough reason to at least re-think the current contact.
 
Al3x1s

Al3x1s

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Nov 13, 2017
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Greece
They just shouldn't sell it exclusively so that when someone comes in with a good pitch they can license it to them regardless of others' games.
 

iRAWRasaurus

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Oct 25, 2017
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Didn't some Lucas related thing say they had meetings with EA and DICE always every week?
 
Ketkat

Ketkat

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Oct 25, 2017
4,727
MWorldII said:
EA released two Star Wars games. Both of them provoke some sort of bad reputation for the brand, which is bad for Disney itself: Battlefront 2015 hasn't enough content for it's price while having $50 season pass, and Battlefront 2017 lootboxes scandal. Also "players doesn't enjoy linear games so much, so we canceled Visceral's Star Wars game".

I think there's enough reason to at least re-think the current contact.
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Don't forget the MMO
 
Alexander DeLarge

Alexander DeLarge

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Oct 28, 2017
1,277
To everyone saying it's useless and it's stupid, this brings extremely bad publicity to both parties and that's good for the consumer because hopefully it'll make them do better in the future... And hopefully it'll make sure the contract isn't renewed.

Also I find it extremely difficult to believe Disney wouldn't have an out of the contract if the brand were being damaged (it is). Disney is not innocent in this at all, they knew about and approved this shit I'm sure... But it's a means to an end.
 
Animal Liberation Ⓥ

Animal Liberation Ⓥ

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Oct 27, 2017
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Disney does not sign contracts it cannot revoke or get out of with their solely owned IPs. Anything is possible.

I remember a few weeks ago, we were told voices on the internet, Reddit/Twitter would not be noticed... and Iger called Wilson real quick.
 
MrTroubleMaker

MrTroubleMaker

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Oct 25, 2017
345
It would be weird if this actually worked. But I would be more worried about them using activision, they are even more devious.
 
Digital

Digital

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Oct 28, 2017
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In 24 hours this will have 150k votes. In a week this could have as much as half a million votes. Video game and star wars nerds coming together is a scary thing.
 

Deleted member 5535

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Takahashi said:
You believe it isn't possible to Disney and LucasFilm to unilaterally revoke a contract? even if they are the one who have to pay a fee? It's seems like a no-brainer to cut the contract after those two Battlefront disaster games.
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Lucasarts knew about the microtransactions and they gave a interview explaining the things after it so don't expect Disney to revoke a contract.
 
Dust

Dust

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Oct 25, 2017
32,236
It all depends how bad the PR for Star Wars brand is from the MOUSE perspective.

Disney has infinite money for any contract penalty/fee but it all depends how much their brands suffer in public eye.
 
test_account

test_account

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,645
Razgriz-Specter said:
Doesn't matter,
EA is the one thoroughly invested in the game industry and knew the lootboxes were some BS.
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It matters in this context. The petition build on the situation that Lucasfilm should revoke the Star Wars license away from EA, like Lucasfilms didnt know about this. Lucasfilms were in on this, so why should this petition make Lucasfilms reconsider the developer?
 
Barrel_Roll

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Oct 30, 2017
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test_account said:
I dont think that the guy who made the petition know that Lucasfilms had weekly meetings with EA. Lucasfilms knew about all of this, so why would Lucasfilm revoke the license from EA?
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I've seen this before with other controversial SW games like Galaxies and TOR. I suppose because it's the game devs who interact with the public, while the publisher, Lucasarts/Lucasfilm, stay in the background. The fact that EA has a great deal of bad karma for other actions also explains why they are getting the sole blame in this situation.
 

rras1994

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Nov 4, 2017
5,742
Yeah, sure let's revoke the license. Then everyone who enjoys playing the Battlefronts and SWTOR would no longer be able to play. Serves them right for enjoying a game /s
 

Deleted member 268

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I hope this works.

I wish companies would stop giving EA exclusive licenses and would work with multiple publishers on a game by game basis.
 
ArkhamFantasy

ArkhamFantasy

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Oct 25, 2017
13,545
As entertaining as it would be to have star wars taken dishonorably discharged from EA, i really dont see the point. If Lucasarts isn't going to allow any type of creative freedom and needs absolutely every little thing to be approved by them then we will never get a green metacritic star wars game no matter who makes it.
 
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