Star Wars Ubisoft Game and End of EA Exclusivity

About

Star Wars Ubisoft Game and End of EA Exclusivity refers to the announcement that developers Ubisoft and Lucasfilm Games are slated to release a new open-world video game set in the Star Wars universe sometime in the near future. This collaboration marks the revival of the Lucasfilm Games brand and an end to Disney’s exclusivity deal with Electronic Arts that was signed in 2013 and planned to last 10 years. EA’s struggles to successfully deliver well-liked Star Wars games, such as the Battlefront II Unlockable Heroes Controversy, resulted in a flood of memes and online discussion in mid-January 2021 revolved around fans celebrating the end of the developer’s hold on the franchise.

History

On January 13th, 2021, Ubisoft^[1] announced on its site that it would be collaborating with the newly revived Lucasfilm Games on a story-driven Star Wars game led by Massive Entertainment. Few details were provided about the exact plan for the game, but included that it will be “an open-world experience within the Star Wars galaxy that will also utilize the studio’s cutting-edge technology and advancements, including the Snowdrop engine.”

That morning, Ubisoft tweeted a teaser clip debuting the game on its official Twitter^[2] account, receiving over 1.1 million views, 52,800 likes and 12,800 retweets in roughly 33 hours (seen below).

The announcement quickly went viral on several sites and social media platforms as users began creating memes either celebrating the new collaboration and IP or the end of EA’s controversial exclusivity on Star Wars video games since 2010. One such example was posted by Redditor AlwaysBi to the /r/PrequelMemes^[3] subreddit shortly after the announcement that same day, which accumulated over 21,300 upvotes, 410 comments and numerous Reddit Awards in 32 hours (shown below).

Online Presence

In the wake of the announcement, memes discussing the new Ubisoft Star Wars game and the end of EA’s exclusivity began appearing across the web. On January 13th, 2021, Redditor DangerNoodle808 posted an example to the /r/PrequelMemes^[4] subreddit, receiving over 17,200 upvotes, 419 comments and several awards in two days (seen below, left). Later that day, Redditor Huntwolf posted another meme to the /r/starwarsmemes^[5] sub, receiving over 7,100 upvotes, 200 comments and several awards in 38 hours (seen below, right).

On January 13th, Twitter^[6] also saw numerous memes and discussions about the game, including a tweet depicting The Manadalorian’s quote “This is the way” from user YongYea, which accumulated over 5,800 likes and 425 retweets in 48 hours (shown below).

On January 13th, Instagram^[7] account church_of_star_wars posted another example, receiving over 5,000 likes in two days (seen below, left). On January 14th, the Facebook^[8] group One Million Gamers also posted a variant, receiving 780 likes, 207 shares and 122 comments in 23 hours (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References