EA Vancouver's open-world Star Wars game has been canceled

EA has canceled the open-world Star Wars game in development at EA Vancouver. 

As reported by Kotaku, the title was being built using some of the assets from Visceral's scrapped Star Wars project, which was handed over to EA Vancouver after the studio's closure in 2017. 

According to those familiar with the matter, the work-in-progress title -- codenamed Orca -- would've seen players take on the role of a bounty hunter or Han Solo-esque scoundrel and explore various open-world planets populated with different factions.

While it sounds promising on paper, Orca was still very early on in development, and after looking at its roadmap for the next few years EA apparently decided to scrap the project in favor of a smaller Star Wars game that could be on shelves sooner. 

It's unclear what shape the new scaled down title will take, but EA is apparently keen to release it towards the end of 2020.

Fortunately, those people who spoke to Kotaku said nobody had been laid off as a result of the cancellation, and some even believe that Orca might eventually see the light of day after EA has finished work on its new project.