EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

[Flawless]

Eurogamer

EA has acquired the exclusive videogame rights to the works of author Robert Ludlum, and is working with Swedish developer Starbreeze (The Darkness, Chronicles of Riddick) on a Jason Bourne title.

The developer and publisher began working together last February on codename "Project RedLime", which was billed as "an incredibly innovative take on a classic [EA] property".

That will be a second and entirely separate game for EA, Starbreeze told Eurogamer this afternoon, but offered no further information on either project.

Ludlum Entertainment re-acquired the Bourne rights from Sierra Entertainment last year, after the latter produced an uninspiring videogame adaptation in the summer.

Incidentally, the Hollywood films The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum are only loosely based on the books. Ludlum wrote quite a lot of other thrillers before his death in 2001, too.

Starbreeze is currently hard at work on delivering The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for Atari, which launches here this March.

[Mizzou23]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

I am nearly done reading the Bourne Supremacy and read the Bourne Identity awhile back. To say that the movies are loosely based on the books is highly inaccurate. Identity is similar in about 10% of the storyline, and there is almost nothing remotely similar in Supremacy. Great books though, if there are any other nerds out there.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

I am nearly done reading the Bourne Supremacy and read the Bourne Identity awhile back. To say that the movies are loosely based on the books is highly inaccurate. Identity is similar in about 10% of the storyline, and there is almost nothing remotely similar in Supremacy. Great books though, if there are any other nerds out there.

Ha. Pretty much. The only thing similar was the memory-loss situation and some of the names of the characters.

[Flawless]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

Riddick team working on Bourne game

Starbreeze has confirmed to Eurogamer that the Chronicles of Riddick team is creating the upcoming Bourne project for EA.

EA announced it had bagged the rights to Robert Ludlum's fiction a couple of months back, with Starbreeze hand-picked for development duties.

During a recent visit to the developer's offices in Uppsala, Sweden, various members of staff confirmed to us that the game would - unsurprisingly - be a more realistic action title than the studio's previous sci-fi projects.

We also learned that multiplayer will definitely feature - which, again, will "definitely not go" the way of the imminent Dark Athena - and all of the studio's mo-cap and vo-cap (the technique by which speech and performance are captured simultaneously) resources would be exploited.

"It is the same team that's going to create the Bourne game that did Riddick as well as The Darkness," lead designer Jerk Gustafsson told Eurogamer TV "We've already begun work. There are some personnel in a development cycle that are free a little bit earlier than others and those guys have been working on the Bourne project.

"So we're probably still going to continue creating games the way we do, blending various gameplay elements into a good storyline. I think that's what we do well."

Codenamed internally as "P9", there's no release date for Bourne as yet. But with Starbreeze at the helm, we're counting on an altogether more engaging experience than High Moon's forgettable effort.

[Flawless]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

Cancelled:

Future of Bourne video games uncertain as EA cancels title

Electronic Arts Inc. has issued its own Bourne ultimatum.

The video game company said it was exterminating a planned game based on the Jason Bourne spy novels and movies. That move raises serious questions about the future of a 10-year deal EA signed with the estate of the late Bourne author Robert Ludlum last year.

One person close to the Ludlum estate said that the two companies' partnership remains in effect. However, an EA spokeswoman confirmed that there are currently no Ludlum-related games in the works.

The Redwood Shores, Calif., publisher has cut back significantly on its movie and television licenses in the last few years in an effort to focus on original properties and licensed sports games. The only games it has in the works for the next year based on a Hollywood property are tied to Warner Bros.' two upcoming Harry Potter movies.

EA acquired the Ludlum video game rights in February of 2009. Vivendi Games published a game based on "The Bourne Conspiracy" in 2008 but dropped the license soon after when it merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard Inc.

Bourne's future on the big screen remains in limbo as well. Although Universal Pictures has said it hopes to continue the series, star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass are not expected to be involved and the studio has not named new talent.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

Hell I didn't even like the Bourne game that came out ummm in 08. It was pretty lame they way they had the controls and stuff. No real freedom at all with their canned animations.

[Flawless]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

No doubt in mind this would've been a lot better than High Moon's Bourne game. Oh well, this means more resources for the other EA and Starbreeze collaboration, which all signs point to is Syndicate.

[luv_mist]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

Very unfortunate. I definitely need to step my reading game up. I guess I'll scoop the books up to get a good feel for what could have been. I honestly loved the movies. My wife was even a fan which is hard to get her to do with anything nowadays. I will say that 10 years is a very long time to have a license and not do anything with it. Fingers are crossed that we will see something solid.

[WTF]

Re: EA and Starbreeze doing Bourne game

Movies are among my favorite movies out there... Definitely dissappointed to hear that they've been scrapped.