Electronic Arts reportedly canceled a Star Wars Battlefront spinoff last year

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The game, codenamed Viking, was being developed by EA Vancouver and Criterion.

(Image credit: EA)

In 2017, Electronic Arts pulled the plug on Visceral Games, which had been working on a new Star Wars game, codenamed Ragtag, under Amy Hennig's direction. Elements of the project were put to use as the foundation of another Star Wars game at EA Vancouver, codenamed Orca, until that too was shut down in early 2019.

According to a new Kotaku report, that wasn't the extent of it: EA apparently also canned a third Star Wars game last year that was intended as a spinoff of the Star Wars Battlefront shooter series. Codenamed Viking, it was reportedly expected to be out in the fall of this year, but once it became clear that it wouldn't make that release date, it was canceled as well.

The axe actually fell in the first half of 2019, according to Kotaku's report, which details how difficulties in coordination between EA Vancouver and Criterion Games in London hampered the project. Criterion is now back to handling the Need for Speed series.

Electronic Arts was given an exclusive license to develop Star Wars games in 2013, but it hasn't worked out to be quite the coup that most people expected. On top of the Ragtag/Orca/Viking headaches, the Star Wars Battlefront comeback was derailed by the loot box mess sparked by Battlefront 2. The only resounding success to come out of the deal so far has been Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. 

Hopefully there are better days ahead for Star Wars fans: The report says EA has two new Star Wars games in the works, the Fallen Order sequel at Respawn, and a "smaller, more unusual" game at EA Motive.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.