In early 2021 Lucasfilm Games was reborn. Two days later, the newly formed banner announced a Ubisoft-developed Star Wars game, ending EA’s uneven eight-year run as the franchise's exclusive video game steward.
In the year since, Lucasfilm Games’ mission has become clear: partner with acclaimed talent across a host of different companies to create a genre-spanning portfolio of Star Wars games that reaches as many audiences as possible. It's not unlike the Marvel Games playbook that arm of Disney has been working with over the last few years.
Consider the eight known Star Wars games currently in development. The projects are being made by seven different studios, each renowned in their respective areas of expertise, and collectively cover every major gaming platform. They touch on the most popular genres — action-adventure, strategy, first-person shooter, RPG, soulslike, arena battler, open-world, single-player, multiplayer — and range from free-to-play to full-priced, action-heavy to narrative-focused, family-friendly to mature.
There's something for nearly every type of player, and chances are there’s still more to come. For now, however, let’s dive deeper into all eight known new Star Wars games currently in development, beginning with the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a family-friendly action-adventure due out April 5. The Skywalker Saga retells all nine mainline Star Wars movies, making it longtime LEGO developer TT Games’ biggest project yet.
It’s been a fairly long, allegedly difficult road to The Skywalker Saga. Development began back in 2017, and it was initially slated for a 2020 release. However, it would be subject to multiple delays before landing on its April 5, 2022, release date.
TT Games is making The Skywalker Saga in an all-new engine, with LEGO Dimensions co-director James McLoughlin at the helm. And while it covers the three Star Wars film trilogies, it isn't a remaster of TT Games' previous LEGO Star Wars outings, but rather something new entirely.
Alongside the recent release date announcement, the developer debuted a six-minute Skywalker Saga gameplay overview.
Release Date: April 5, 2022 | Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC | Developer: TT Games
The second Star Wars game due out this year is Star Wars: Hunters, a free-to-play, team-based multiplayer game for Nintendo Switch and mobile.
Hunters is set during the same time period as The Mandolorian — after the fall of the Galactic Empire, between the events of Star Wars Episodes 6 and 7. Its playable characters include a bounty hunter, Wookiee, droid, Imperial soldier, rebel, and a pair of Jawa brothers that stand on each other’s shoulders Vincent Adultman style. Gameplay arenas, meanwhile, feature iconic Star Wars settings such as Hoth and Endor.
Hunters will be the first console game developed by mobile gaming giant Zynga, which is set to be acquired by Take-Two. Zynga built a new studio to develop Hunters back in 2020, led by Jeff Hickman and Matthew Hemby, two industry veterans with experience at BioWare.
Release Window: 2022 | Platforms: Switch, Mobile | Developer: Zynga
A sequel to 2019's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is officially in development, EA and Lucasfilm Games confirmed in early 2022. The sequel is being led by game director Stig Asmussen at Respawn Entertainment — the same director and studio behind the original.
Star Wars Jedi was previously confirmed to be the start of a new franchise, after the first game exceeded EA’s sales expectations and went on to become the second best-selling Star Wars game of all time (in the U.S.), as of March 2021. Fallen Order was a pivotal game for Respawn; it proved the developer’s prowess outside of first-person shooters and solidified it as EA’s premier Star Wars studio.
In our Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review, we called it “fantastic single-player action-adventure that marks the return of the playable Jedi.” Fallen Order also earned a spot on our list of the best soulslike games.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Respawn Entertainment
BioWare’s acclaimed Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic is being remade “from the ground up” by Aspyr, the studio behind recent Star Wars ports of Republic Commando and Jedi Academy.
The KOTOR remake, announced during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021, will maintain the “integrity of story and character from the original,” according to lead producer Ryan Treadwell. Assisting Treadwell on that mission is a group of developers who previously worked on the Demon’s Souls remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and the original KOTOR. Also returning from the original game is voice actor Jennifer Hale, reprising her role as Bastila Shan.
Originally released in 2003 for Xbox and PC, KOTOR is widely considered one of the best RPGs of all time. It also sits atop our list of the 10 best Star Wars games.
The remake is only announced for PS5 and PC. However, a later release on Xbox is possible given its label as a “console exclusive at launch” for PlayStation.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: PS5, PC | Developer: Aspyr
Alongside its Jedi: Fallen Order sequel, Respawn is developing an all-new Star Wars first-person shooter.
Development on the FPS is being led by Peter Hirschmann, a former VP of development at LucasArts and executive producer on the original Battlefront games. More recently, Hirschmann directed Respawn's VR shooter Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.
Details may be scarce, but Hirschmann did provide some hints about what we can expect from the shooter, saying he’s “always been inspired by the classic Star Wars titles Dark Forces and Dark Forces II.” He added, “I've never forgotten the emotion and excitement I felt playing an FPS inside the Star Wars universe. They are defining experiences for many of us on the team, and are a guiding light for this new project.”
The shooter, along with Respawn’s two other Star Wars projects, will be overseen by studio founder Vince Zampella.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Respawn Entertainment
In early 2021 Ubisoft and Lucasfilm Games announced an open-world Star Wars project, officially signaling the end of EA’s long-held Star Wars video game exclusivity.
The project is in development at Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment (The Division, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) under the direction of The Division 2 lead Julian Gerighty. It will be a story-driven, open-world adventure built in Massive’s own Snowdrop engine. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said it will be "an original Star Wars adventure that is different from anything that has been done before."
A few more details can be gleaned from the subsequent job listings published by Ubisoft. The listings call for developers with experience creating action-adventure and RPG games, as well as linear and non-linear stories.
Ubisoft landed the project after a meeting with Disney about another of its collaborations: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the open-world Avatar game due out in 2022. "There was such alignment and such creative passion around the Star Wars IP from [Massive] that it just was a natural evolution to the relationship, and really led to the Star Wars game we announced not too long ago,” SVP of Walt Disney Games Sean Shoptaw told IGN.
There’s currently no release window for Massive’s Star Wars game at this time, though it's likely years away considering the studio is still finishing up work on Avatar and is still hiring heavily for the project.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Massive Entertainment
Leaked a few months before its official reveal at The Game Awards 2021, Star Wars Eclipse is an “intricately branching action-adventure game” in early development at Quantic Dream, the studio behind choice-heavy, narrative-driven games Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human. It's the first-ever High Republic era Star Wars game.
Quantic Dream promises to build on its pedigree of branching narratives with Eclipse, saying the game “can be experienced in many ways, and puts the destinies of multiple playable characters in your hands.” Each character will have “their own story, abilities, and role to play in the tapestry of events that could alter the carefully balanced peace of the Outer Rim.”
While no official story details have been revealed, the early marketing copy for Eclipse hints at an interplanetary political thriller: “An uncharted section of the galaxy with never-before-seen species and planets to discover, the Outer Rim is rife with opportunity – and political tensions that could alter the fabric of peace. What will you do?”
However, it may feature more action than the studio’s previous games, based on its intense debut trailer (above).
Its reveal has not been without blowback, though; a week after Eclipse’s announcement, the hashtag #BlackOutStarWarsEclipse trended on Twitter due to past reports of aalleged racism, sexism, and homophobia at Quantic Dream under studio head David Cage and executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumière.
Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm Games make clear this project is “in the early stages of development.” As such, Eclipse is all but certainly years away from being released.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Quantic Dream
The last of Respawn’s recently announced trio of Star Wars projects is a strategy game led by 20-year Firaxis veteran Greg Foertsch. Respawn will produce the game, while development is led by Bit Reactor, a studio formed by Foertsch and other former XCOM devs earlier this year.
As with Respawn’s other Star Wars projects, details are slim. However, Foertsch told GamesIndustry.biz the studio is focused on “really blurring that line between what a strategy game is and what an action game is."
Seeing as the studio’s formation was just announced on January 19, it’s likely going to be a bit of a wait until we see Bit Reactor’s debut.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developers: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment
For much more on the ever-expanding Star Wars universe, check out our rundown of what to expect from Star Wars in 2022.
And be sure to vote in the poll below to let us know which Star Wars game you're looking forward to most.
Continue reading...
In the year since, Lucasfilm Games’ mission has become clear: partner with acclaimed talent across a host of different companies to create a genre-spanning portfolio of Star Wars games that reaches as many audiences as possible. It's not unlike the Marvel Games playbook that arm of Disney has been working with over the last few years.
Consider the eight known Star Wars games currently in development. The projects are being made by seven different studios, each renowned in their respective areas of expertise, and collectively cover every major gaming platform. They touch on the most popular genres — action-adventure, strategy, first-person shooter, RPG, soulslike, arena battler, open-world, single-player, multiplayer — and range from free-to-play to full-priced, action-heavy to narrative-focused, family-friendly to mature.
There's something for nearly every type of player, and chances are there’s still more to come. For now, however, let’s dive deeper into all eight known new Star Wars games currently in development, beginning with the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a family-friendly action-adventure due out April 5. The Skywalker Saga retells all nine mainline Star Wars movies, making it longtime LEGO developer TT Games’ biggest project yet.
It’s been a fairly long, allegedly difficult road to The Skywalker Saga. Development began back in 2017, and it was initially slated for a 2020 release. However, it would be subject to multiple delays before landing on its April 5, 2022, release date.
TT Games is making The Skywalker Saga in an all-new engine, with LEGO Dimensions co-director James McLoughlin at the helm. And while it covers the three Star Wars film trilogies, it isn't a remaster of TT Games' previous LEGO Star Wars outings, but rather something new entirely.
Alongside the recent release date announcement, the developer debuted a six-minute Skywalker Saga gameplay overview.
Release Date: April 5, 2022 | Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC | Developer: TT Games
Star Wars: Hunters
The second Star Wars game due out this year is Star Wars: Hunters, a free-to-play, team-based multiplayer game for Nintendo Switch and mobile.
Hunters is set during the same time period as The Mandolorian — after the fall of the Galactic Empire, between the events of Star Wars Episodes 6 and 7. Its playable characters include a bounty hunter, Wookiee, droid, Imperial soldier, rebel, and a pair of Jawa brothers that stand on each other’s shoulders Vincent Adultman style. Gameplay arenas, meanwhile, feature iconic Star Wars settings such as Hoth and Endor.
Hunters will be the first console game developed by mobile gaming giant Zynga, which is set to be acquired by Take-Two. Zynga built a new studio to develop Hunters back in 2020, led by Jeff Hickman and Matthew Hemby, two industry veterans with experience at BioWare.
Release Window: 2022 | Platforms: Switch, Mobile | Developer: Zynga
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2
A sequel to 2019's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is officially in development, EA and Lucasfilm Games confirmed in early 2022. The sequel is being led by game director Stig Asmussen at Respawn Entertainment — the same director and studio behind the original.
Star Wars Jedi was previously confirmed to be the start of a new franchise, after the first game exceeded EA’s sales expectations and went on to become the second best-selling Star Wars game of all time (in the U.S.), as of March 2021. Fallen Order was a pivotal game for Respawn; it proved the developer’s prowess outside of first-person shooters and solidified it as EA’s premier Star Wars studio.
In our Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review, we called it “fantastic single-player action-adventure that marks the return of the playable Jedi.” Fallen Order also earned a spot on our list of the best soulslike games.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake
BioWare’s acclaimed Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic is being remade “from the ground up” by Aspyr, the studio behind recent Star Wars ports of Republic Commando and Jedi Academy.
The KOTOR remake, announced during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021, will maintain the “integrity of story and character from the original,” according to lead producer Ryan Treadwell. Assisting Treadwell on that mission is a group of developers who previously worked on the Demon’s Souls remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and the original KOTOR. Also returning from the original game is voice actor Jennifer Hale, reprising her role as Bastila Shan.
Originally released in 2003 for Xbox and PC, KOTOR is widely considered one of the best RPGs of all time. It also sits atop our list of the 10 best Star Wars games.
The remake is only announced for PS5 and PC. However, a later release on Xbox is possible given its label as a “console exclusive at launch” for PlayStation.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: PS5, PC | Developer: Aspyr
Respawn’s Star Wars FPS
Alongside its Jedi: Fallen Order sequel, Respawn is developing an all-new Star Wars first-person shooter.
Development on the FPS is being led by Peter Hirschmann, a former VP of development at LucasArts and executive producer on the original Battlefront games. More recently, Hirschmann directed Respawn's VR shooter Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.
Details may be scarce, but Hirschmann did provide some hints about what we can expect from the shooter, saying he’s “always been inspired by the classic Star Wars titles Dark Forces and Dark Forces II.” He added, “I've never forgotten the emotion and excitement I felt playing an FPS inside the Star Wars universe. They are defining experiences for many of us on the team, and are a guiding light for this new project.”
The shooter, along with Respawn’s two other Star Wars projects, will be overseen by studio founder Vince Zampella.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Respawn Entertainment
Ubisoft Open-World Star Wars
In early 2021 Ubisoft and Lucasfilm Games announced an open-world Star Wars project, officially signaling the end of EA’s long-held Star Wars video game exclusivity.
The project is in development at Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment (The Division, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) under the direction of The Division 2 lead Julian Gerighty. It will be a story-driven, open-world adventure built in Massive’s own Snowdrop engine. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said it will be "an original Star Wars adventure that is different from anything that has been done before."
A few more details can be gleaned from the subsequent job listings published by Ubisoft. The listings call for developers with experience creating action-adventure and RPG games, as well as linear and non-linear stories.
Ubisoft landed the project after a meeting with Disney about another of its collaborations: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the open-world Avatar game due out in 2022. "There was such alignment and such creative passion around the Star Wars IP from [Massive] that it just was a natural evolution to the relationship, and really led to the Star Wars game we announced not too long ago,” SVP of Walt Disney Games Sean Shoptaw told IGN.
There’s currently no release window for Massive’s Star Wars game at this time, though it's likely years away considering the studio is still finishing up work on Avatar and is still hiring heavily for the project.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Massive Entertainment
Star Wars Eclipse
Leaked a few months before its official reveal at The Game Awards 2021, Star Wars Eclipse is an “intricately branching action-adventure game” in early development at Quantic Dream, the studio behind choice-heavy, narrative-driven games Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human. It's the first-ever High Republic era Star Wars game.
Quantic Dream promises to build on its pedigree of branching narratives with Eclipse, saying the game “can be experienced in many ways, and puts the destinies of multiple playable characters in your hands.” Each character will have “their own story, abilities, and role to play in the tapestry of events that could alter the carefully balanced peace of the Outer Rim.”
While no official story details have been revealed, the early marketing copy for Eclipse hints at an interplanetary political thriller: “An uncharted section of the galaxy with never-before-seen species and planets to discover, the Outer Rim is rife with opportunity – and political tensions that could alter the fabric of peace. What will you do?”
However, it may feature more action than the studio’s previous games, based on its intense debut trailer (above).
Its reveal has not been without blowback, though; a week after Eclipse’s announcement, the hashtag #BlackOutStarWarsEclipse trended on Twitter due to past reports of aalleged racism, sexism, and homophobia at Quantic Dream under studio head David Cage and executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumière.
Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm Games make clear this project is “in the early stages of development.” As such, Eclipse is all but certainly years away from being released.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developer: Quantic Dream
Respawn and Bit Reactor’s Star Wars Strategy Game
The last of Respawn’s recently announced trio of Star Wars projects is a strategy game led by 20-year Firaxis veteran Greg Foertsch. Respawn will produce the game, while development is led by Bit Reactor, a studio formed by Foertsch and other former XCOM devs earlier this year.
As with Respawn’s other Star Wars projects, details are slim. However, Foertsch told GamesIndustry.biz the studio is focused on “really blurring that line between what a strategy game is and what an action game is."
Seeing as the studio’s formation was just announced on January 19, it’s likely going to be a bit of a wait until we see Bit Reactor’s debut.
Release Date: TBA | Platforms: TBA | Developers: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment
For much more on the ever-expanding Star Wars universe, check out our rundown of what to expect from Star Wars in 2022.
And be sure to vote in the poll below to let us know which Star Wars game you're looking forward to most.
Continue reading...
