Amy Hennig Leaves EA, Goes Independent

I can't comment on RagTag, whether I am still interested or not as I don't really know what I am missing with the Linear version Amy was working on or what we will be getting now its more open-world.

I admit I was looking forward to see what Amy would do with the Star Wars licence and I do quite enjoy linear stories too. That being said, I also enjoy open world games and these have tended to be my 'favourites' in the last couple of years - H:ZD, AC: Origins, Witcher 3 etc. A Star Wars set game like these could well be epic.

Obviously I totally disagree with EA's decision over Visceral and their comments about Single Player too. That doesn't bode well for RagTag as it could end up being the Division, Destiny or even Anthem with a 'Star Wars' skin - which we all know have had concerns, issues etc. I don't mind the 'always online' nature of these as long as I can play Solo without others ruining my experience - either by attacking me or nicking any loot/ammo. I do appreciate that others will automatically dismiss the game if it is 'online' only regardless.

As for Amy, I wish her well but I can't see myself being 'greatly' interested in her projects - particularly if they are VR. She may surprise me but I am not buying any game 'just' because its Amy's project and I loved Uncharted like some seem to buy Kojima's games just because its Kojima...

All you can do is judge a game by what arrives on launch day; I'm not just saying this because it's Star Wars and I'm a fan, but because all games have development difficulties and challenges to varying degrees. This one has just been particularly large and public because it's been the perfect storm of "world's biggest entertainment brand, handled by world's most powerful and loathed games company, involving one of the few instantly-recognisable names in games development". We don't hear about the vast majority of unsavoury or unfortunate stories behind some of the biggest and best games (and we shouldn't, because it's not like developers are holding public office).

That being said, I'm not surprised in the slightest that, after all this corporate pressure, Amy Hennig wants to go small and independent. I wish her the very best of luck, because I adore her work on the Uncharted franchise and can't wait to see what she'll come up with when free from rules and expectations.

@LaNooch1978 I wouldn't be surprised if Phil hasn't been on the blower already

@LaNooch1978 sounds like a logical move, but I hope it doesn't happen. I'm kind of exited about the idea of her leading any PSVR game...

With EA you always have to worry, but...hearing open world in a stars wars franchise has peaked my interest.

@BAMozzy I hate always online especially with singleplayer. You know in 1-2 years your game is going to be a doorstop when the servers go out.

Shame it didn't work out. I hope the indie route goes well for her.

@Flaming_Kaiser Well its often a lot longer than that but that's obviously a probability. Do I care that the first Destiny is likely to be 'dead' in 5yrs or so - no not really as I have had thousands and thousands of hours out of it - more so than I have had from Uncharted 4 which I may never end up playing again. I still have my PS3 version of the Last of Us but I am 'VERY' unlikely to ever play that again now too. When I moved about 5/6yrs ago, I binned around 30-35yrs worth of 'games' I had collected, all had been sat in a loft for years and years and years - so much so that I couldn't even verify if they were working, no desire to play them again so I ended up binning the lot as I didn't have 'space' to keep them in my new house. I have a box of games from 2001-2006 that I haven't bothered with since around 2006. I have my entire PS3/XB360 games too that I haven't touched in the past 5yrs so worrying about a game that I have played and played and played, now with a 'newer' version out, certainly doesn't concern me that it will one-day end. I can't play Killzone 2 or 3 any more in its complete form either but I am not 'bothered' as I haven't played either for at least 5/6yrs now. Chances are that by the time games like Destiny, the Division etc get 'turned' off and become unplayable, I will have moved on to the next generation of consoles, moved on to the next, or even one after that, iteration of these games and spent hundreds (if not thousands) of hours enjoying them when they were active.

Its still better than buying everything 'digitally' and then finding you can't play them at all when the console is turned off because the licence to play is linked to your online profile! That doesn't stop people buying and enjoying them whilst they are relevant and not worrying about what may happen when the game is 'irrelevant' anyway.

I guess if you have no friends to enjoy the games with when they are out, then online matters but I am not overly concerned about whether or not some games will be playable in 10yrs time because those games rely on having an online population and if everyone has moved on, they are dead anyway...

Always interested to learn more about a new Star Wars game (because Star Wars), but wether I’d buy it is another matter altogether. Good luck to Amy with her new endeavours, hope it all works out well.

Best of luck to her. Too bad we won’t get a Star Wars Uncharted. That would be simply sublime. Substitute Nathan Drake for a SW universe based bounty hunter or smuggler, substitute exotic jungles and tomb locations for far away planets and established SW ecosystems... and it could have been awesome.

I feel bad for Amy, first she gets kicked off her own game and from Naughty Dog by Druckmann (but he's all about women in gaming guys) and then she goes to EA and ends up leaving with nothing to show for it and 4 years of wasted time.

I bet that this game will be just another EA/Star Wars/Disney failure, it's all they've been doing nowadays.

Great to hear she's out of EA.

@Kidfried i said that once too

then MGSV came out

and now i'm done

@Th3solution My fingers are tightly crossed for Jedi: Fallen Order, simply because from what little we've been told, what you just described (only with a Jedi in the lead, which is better because lightsabers) is exactly where my brain went.

It's possible that EA didn't care for Star Wars Uncharted because they already had one in the works, one that we'll actually get to see next year... unlikely, but possible.

Hennig could create a game similar to Star Wars 1313, it looked so awesome when it was announced. EA is a lost cause. Good luck to her.

Without any evidence of old vs new version of the Star Wars game is it possibly to give a factual opinion? Anyways, I do wish success to Amy, ex-members at Visceral and EA Vancouver. What I can see is that from one failed project, three (possibly more gaming studios) are born! That's more games to choose from in future. More for the gamers!

That's twice in a row her boss has come along and effectively thrown her project in the bin, saying they don't want it. I don't blame her for deciding to go independent. Who wouldn't after being treated like that?

I don't understand why ea didin't want uncharted starwars, ea know uncharted series has multiplayer with dlc/mtx right? That's ea ticket to mtx/lootbox system. Just make that single player game compelling, unlike battlefront 2 single player story.

@BAMozzy Still hate always online. It goes with with servicegames, microtransactions, cut up games, seasonpasses. Yeah ill take 10 hours of Uncharted 4 with a optional multiplayer. Then a 100 hours of mediocre Destiny where i dont even remember the story. 😴

@Kidfried Did you play 1,3,4 there all better then 5. 😁

@Flaming_Kaiser That's your choice and whilst I will agree Destiny's story is 'forgettable', that's a 'very' small part of what Destiny is about. Playing with friends/family, completing Raids etc is one of the best experiences I have had this generation and why it has ended up occupying my gaming time for thousands of hours but if you don't have friends to play with, it can be a bit of boring grind. However I wouldn't dismiss ANY game just because its Online only as it can still provide much greater experiences than a 'linear' and scripted single player, a much greater sense of achievement and co-operating with friends to overcome some of the most intense and difficult gaming objective is such a rewarding experience.

Of course Single Player games have their place too but I would certainly wouldn't limit myself to 'just' those and greatly enjoy the social aspect of gaming with friends, working as a team to complete objectives and be successful, to have fun playing with others. There is something special about being part of a team, working together and sharing the ups and downs and the shared reward of overcoming adversity to triumph together. As such I have NO intention of limiting myself to just 'single player' offline experiences.

Looking forward to seeing what she comes up with, i think EA made a huge mistake interfering with her linear game, should have just let her get on with it and i'm sure it would have been a success, but EA are EA at the end of the day -_-

@Kidfried You got me there. 😆