Electronic Arts doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record for making consumers happy. This is, after all, the company that pushed loot boxes onto gamers so hard that it turned into a legal issue. It’s the same company that turned BioWare into a shell of its former self and gobbled up gaming companies across the 2000s and 2010s only to close them when they didn’t produce the results EA wanted. And now they have laid waste to another studio and it’s anticipated Black Panther game.
Cliffhanger Games was a studio that was essentially tasked with bringing a Black Panther game forward, given it was their first project together. A number of developers working for the team had previously developed “Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.” That open world, first person, action-adventure title was very highly regarded and Black Panther was set to follow in the footsteps of that title. Not much was revealed beyond this, but giving Black Panther his own game seemed like a sure-fire hit given how strongly the character has performed for Marvel Studios in recent years.
In an email, EA Entertainment President Laura Miele tried to explain the cancellation, layoffs, and studio closure as an attempt to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”
The gaming juggernaut will be focusing on a select few franchises including “Skate,” “Battlefield,” “The Sims,” and “Apex Legends.” That being said, they still have an Iron Man game in the works, as well as a follow-up to “Jedi Outcast” and “Jedi Survivor.” Naturally, EA will still have its sports games, but they’re technically under a different division of the company, one that Miele does not have oversight of.
The video game industry has been hurting, with more and more developers laying off staff and canceling projects. WB Games cancelled a long gestating Wonder Woman project, one that was prominent enough to feature at The Game Awards in 2021. Maybe it’s also a sign of a lack of faith in superhero franchises and how they’ve been managed. Certainly, “Marvel’s Avengers” didn’t help when it bombed so horribly in 2020. That, along with industry problems in general is not putting superhero games in a very lucrative light.
“These decisions are hard,” Miele continued in an email. “They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles.”
It’s regrettable that Black Panther had to be a victim of this considering the powerful following that character has. Wakanda may be forever, but not if EA is pulling the purse strings.
