EA is the 'Star Wars' games company Disney is looking for

Disney and Electronic Arts said today that the two entertainment giants have signed an exclusive deal under which EA will begin developing and publishing a series of new "Star Wars" video games.

In a release, Disney and EA said that the new "Star Wars" games will be created for "a core gaming audience," and that they will be developed for "all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres."

However, while the deal was termed "exclusive," the announcement noted that Disney will still maintain the right to develop other new games for mobile, social, tablet, and online platforms. The companies did not divulge the financial terms of the agreement.

What's not known yet is what the Disney-EA partnership will mean for pre-existing "Star Wars" titles that were put on hold when LucasArts, the video games arm of Lucasfilm, was shut down last month. Those games included Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. A Disney spokesperson told CNET that nothing was being announced about pre-existing titles at this point, and that those kinds of decisions would likely be made jointly by Disney, EA, and Lucasfilm.

Nevertheless, the "Star Wars" deal is a big win for EA, which has been struggling recently, suffering through studio shutdowns and large layoffs. It also was recently added to the list of the worst companies to work for.