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Star Wars and live-service games keep EA strong despite Anthem’s flop

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — Hone Your Powers

Electronic Arts continued to generate strong profits over 2019, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order selling well above the company’s expectations and its live-service games generating impressive revenue. The success comes in spite of the early-year failure of Anthem, which was quickly discounted after receiving middling review scores and reports of the game being massively overhauled.

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As part of its latest quarterly earnings call, Electronic Arts revealed it had record operating cash flow during 2019, with nearly $1 billion in revenue coming from its live services during the fourth quarter alone.

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is now on course to sell around 10 million units, up from an initial estimate of between 6 million and 8 million units. More content related to the project is on the way and it will remain single-player-focused, but Electronic Arts stopped short of saying if it would be DLC or a new game. Fallen Order was the first non-shooter project from Respawn Entertainment, which is currently developing a VR-exclusive Medal of Honor game.

FIFA 20 and Madden NFL 20 both sold above expectations as well, with continued player support for their online components. Madden NFL 20‘s success also meant it staved off a discount as early or as deeply as its predecessors. However, the raw sales data for these three franchises doesn’t tell the whole story, as Electronic Arts’ royalty checks to the brands’ owners cut into profits.

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During the call’s Q&A portion, Electronic Arts shared details about a pattern emerging in its Origin subscription service: Players joining to play one game move onto playing other games and continue playing and using the service. A Star Wars fan, for instance, may become a fan of Dragon Age or Titanfall via their subscription.

Anthem‘s disappointing performance, however, still looms over the company. It did not meet EA’s expectations, either for sales or microtransactions, and was discounted to a fraction of its original price by the end of 2019. Developer BioWare is working on a new Dragon Age game, but the full game hasn’t yet been unveiled. Anthem was BioWare’s second recent disappointment, following Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017. The latter effectively killed its series — at least temporarily — with developers moving onto other franchises.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ending explained: What happens to Cal, Cere, and Bode?
Bode helps Cal up in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor finally launched on April 28, continuing the story of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis during the Reign of the Empire era. Its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, ended with Kal, his mentor Cere, Nightsister Merrin, and Mantis pilot Greez destroying a Holocron with the locations of force-sensitive children on it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows Cal five years after the events of that game as he struggles to balance his well-being with his fight against the Empire and uncovers a new threat linked to The High Republic and a mysterious planet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a lengthy adventure as it takes over 20 hours to experience a story with quite a few twists and turns. Whether you’ve beaten the game and are looking for a recap or want to know how Cal Kestis’ adventures continue, this is a rundown of what happens in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and how it all coalesces into a somber ending.
This article contains spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
How does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begin
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begins with Cal Kestis seemingly captured on Coruscant. While it initially seems like he’s being turned over into the custody of a Utapauian senator, it turns out this is all part of an elaborate heist with a new crew that Cal has been running with since the Mantis crew from the first game disbanded. During this mission, Cal meets Bode Akuna, who tells Cal he’s fighting to protect his daughter Kata from the Empire.

They are eventually able to track down the Utapauian senator’s damaged ship, and all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, they are then ambushed by an Imperial Squad led by the Ninth Sister from the Fallen Order. Cal kills the Ninth Sister and escapes on the Mantis, but everyone but him and Bode is killed, and the Mantis is heavily damaged. With no other choice, he flies to the planet Koboh, where Greez is now living, and crash lands on the planet.
After fighting some of the Bedlam Raiders, led by a powerful Gen’Dai named Rayvis, Cal reunites with Greez. While Greez encourages Cal to settle down, Cal refuses and looks for a piece of technology in the caves beneath Greez’s Saloon. While doing this, he discovers an old ruin from The High Republic era, and frees a droid named ZN-A4 (or Zee) for short, who was sent on a mission by a Jedi Knight named Santari Khri during the High Republic era to find the “Key to Tanalorr.”
Cal investigates this, learning that Santari Khri and a Jedi named Dagan Gera found Tanalorr, a hidden planet beyond the dangerous Koboh Abyss, where they wanted to build a new Jedi base. Cal decides to free Dagan from his Bacta Tank, but he quickly betrays Cal after learning of the Jedi’s fall, adamant about retaking Tanalorr with the help of Rayvis, who owes him a life debt. Now, Cal, Bode, and Greez make it their duty to stop Dagan and potentially claim Tanalorr as a safe haven for themselves.
The quest to stop Dagan Gera
Following this encounter, Cal, Greez, and Bode, who found Cal on Koboh, decide to look for Tanalorr and make it their new home together. Looking for any existing information on Tanalorr, the group decides to go to Jedha, where Cal’s mentor Cere Junda is working with Jedi Master Edo Cordova to rebuild the Jedi Archives and support the Hidden Path, which protects force-sensitive people from the Empire.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers a big glimpse into Disney’s High Republic era
star wars jedi survivor high republic facility

After Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, it will be impossible for Star Wars fans to ignore The High Republic era. Once limited to books, Disney is starting to make the fictional time period matter a lot more to the overarching narrative of Star Wars. If upcoming shows like The Acolyte weren’t already an indication of that to you, then The High Republic’s presence and relevance in Survivor will be. Although the game isn't set during The High Republic -- it takes place in the Reign of the Empire time period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope -- characters and locations heavily tied to that era play a major role in the game's narrative. 

For a significant chunk of Cal Kestis’ latest adventure, he’s going toe-to-toe with Dagan Gera, a Jedi from The High Republic era that was sustained in a Bacta Tank for hundreds of years after betraying the Jedi Order. Especially on Koboh and the Shattered Moon, players will explore a lot of High Republic facilities and learn more about how the Jedi Order functioned and trained new Jedi at its height, and be able to contrast that with Cal's current situation. 
So, what exactly is The High Repbulic, and why does it matter? This is what you need to know as the franchise looks to a new era.
What is The High Republic?
The High Republic is the third of nine Star Wars eras designated by Disney. It’s snuggled between The Old Republic, which we see in the aptly named Knights of the Old Republic, and the Fall of the Jedi era seen throughout the Star Wars prequel film saga. Disney first unveiled it in 2020, and Lucasfilm described it as “an era when the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order are at their zenith, about 200 years before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" in a blog post.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: file size, release time, and preload options
Cal Kestis.

One of 2023's most anticipated games, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is almost here. This is the sequel to 2019's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which continues the story of Jedi Padawan, Cal Kestis. Early reviews point to a worthy successor, and excitement for Jedi: Survivor is no doubt building ahead of its release. But what time does this game launch, what will its file size be, and what sorts of pre-load options are there? Here's what you need to know about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor release time

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will launch on April 28, 2023, but will have a simultaneous global release. This means that in some regions of the world, you'll actually be able to play it on April 27. On the West Coast of the U.S., the game goes live at 9 p.m. PT, and at 10 p.m. CT in areas like Mexico City. In most other regions, players will need to wait until April 28 to begin playing.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor file size
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will be a massive game, at least in terms of storage size. On PC, it clocks in at a whopping 155GB; on PS5, it's 147GB, and on Xbox Series X|S, it's 134GB. You might have to clear some room for this game in order to play it when it launches.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor preload options
Preloading is available across all platforms now, and -- given the game's large file size -- it's recommended to do so if you get a digital copy. You can preload it across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via the EA app and Steam).
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor preorder details
There are some pre-order bonuses for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in the form of the “Jedi Survival” Cosmetic Pack. This includes the following:

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