EA Vancouver’s Star Wars game cancelled

Electronic Arts has cancelled its open-world Star Wars game, which was in development at EA Vancouver, according to a Kotaku report.

The game, code-named Ragtag, was originally in development at Visceral Games as a linear action adventure game directed by Uncharted director Amy Hennig. EA Vancouver, which was assisting on the project, took over development when Electronic Arts closed Visceral Games in 2017, and rebooted it entirely as an open-world game while keeping some of the art assets from the original project.

Patrick Soderlund, the vice president of EA Worldwide Studios at the time, released the following statement back when the closure was announced:

In its current form, [the Star Wars title] was shaping up to be a story-based, linear adventure game. Throughout the development process, we have been testing the game concept with players, listening to the feedback about what and how they want to play, and closely tracking fundamental shifts in the marketplace. It has become clear that to deliver an experience that players will want to come back to and enjoy for a long time to come, we needed to pivot the design. We will maintain the stunning visuals, authenticity in the Star Wars universe, and focus on bringing a Star Wars story to life. Importantly, we are shifting the game to be a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency, leaning into the capabilities of our Frostbite engine and reimagining central elements of the game to give players a Star Wars adventure of greater depth and breadth to explore.

While it is not clear what project EA Vancouver will be working on next, Kotaku has heard it might be another Star Wars game. But if that is the case, it will be many years before it is released.