Rumors have a tendency to be self-fulling, in particular when they are on the border of ‘ehh, I guess that’s possible’.  The more they are talked about, the more the folks involved can see if people like the idea.  It’s a well known tactics for a company to plant a rumor, just for that effect.

This one concerns the company I like to dislike.  Seems many others to too – but this is my blog.  Rumor is that Disney is looking for another gaming company to take over the Star Wars franchise from EA.

Neato.

The Good

• I dislike EA and their business practices.  I used to love EA in the 90s but they, along with Activision, went bananas with greed driving every decision.  EA in particular has a notorious habit of buying smaller developers, and then laying them off.  Then using that company’s IP and re-branding the game with micro-transactions (Bullfrog and Dungeon Keeper are prime).  Anything that hits EA’s pocket book is good, and SW is a massive money maker.
• It’s possible this goes beyond Lego Star Wars and the rest of the games, where Disney can license the material to many companies.  There is so much potential in that franchise… it seems wasted.
• The SW mobile games by EA are atrocious – they need to go.
• RPGs! Where are our SW RPGS?!  EA makes horrible RPGs, this is potential!
• Rogue Squadron / Tie Fighter anyone?
• Maybe BioWare can be bought by another company, giving them a second life.

The Bad

• Loss of this franchise near guarantees massive job cuts.  It really sucks.  Hopefully they can follow the franchise to another company.
• Disney is the largest media monopoly and the simple thought of this occurring is making waves.  That level of power/influence is scary.
• Changing companies means a large dip in terms of timelines for a good SW game to let the other company come to speed.
• There’s a risk that SWTOR closes if this goes through.  Which is unfortunate since it’s a decent game…

The Ugly

• Knives in everyone’s back until this rumor is put to bed by Disney with a new contract.
• Could be the complete end of BioWare as Mass Effect is most likely permanently shelved, and SWTOR isn’t exactly brimming with development news.
• Disney’s driving force is a tough one to crack.  As much as they love money, they value reputation nearly as much.  SW:BF2 didn’t meet it’s market projections and made major negative media lines.  It’s entirely possible that EA addresses this, and this limping beasts keeps moving forward.
• When giants topple, there are always little folk that get hit that we don’t ever hear about.