Lucasfilm Games sounds pleased with how its latest Star Wars games are panning out, as it continues to chase partnerships with smaller studios for more unusual games.
It’s not controversial to say that the Star Wars franchise is faring far better in the world of video games nowadays, than the movies. In just the last couple of months, fans got XCOM homage Zero Company and the Burnout-esque Galactic Racer, and both have been received incredibly well.
Zero Company has since sold over a million copies (which has hopefully saved its developer) and although there are no exact sales for Galactic Racer, it’s one of the highest scoring Star Wars games of all time on Metacritic and has been a viral hit on social media thanks to minor character Biddy Blas.
There are still a couple of big budget Star Wars games to come, but Lucasfilm Games, which is responsible for licensing, has indicated that it wants to be more ‘flexible’ with who it partners with going forward.
In an interview with The Game Business, Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilley comments on how ‘huge AAA games’ like Star Wars Battlefront will be a ‘central part’ of the company’s video game strategy. (He made no hint of a third game but it’s still interesting that Battlefront was the example he used, given the last one was almost a decade ago now).
However, Reilly adds, ‘One of the great things about Star Wars is it has all kinds of other opportunities to tell stories in different genres. … And so the goal has really been [to] find the best partner who makes that experience come alive…’
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As such, Reilly sounds open to more AA experiences along the lines of Zero Company and Galactic Racer, which were handled by smaller studios. Although Reilly still considers the latter an ‘AAA experience’ despite its scope and budget.
An impressive feat considering it is developer Fuse Games’ debut title, even if the studio is comprised of veterans from Burnout developer Criterion Games.
Since these partnerships have paid off, it sounds like Lucasfilm Games is very open to pitches from not just big name studios but smaller ones too, perhaps suggesting that even indie teams have a shot at working with the IP… so long as they can prove they have the skill to do so.
‘I think we’ve tried to be more flexible about who we’re willing to take pitches from, and… good ideas can come from a lot of different places,’ says Reilly.
‘There are some hurdles… We have a high quality bar and we want to make sure they’re excellent experiences and that means typically you work with more experienced teams than, you know, new teams who have no track record of making great things.
‘But we’re exploring all kinds of things that large and small with partners that I think are going to continue to surprise folks… [sic].’
It would make sense to greenlight smaller Star Wars games since they could plug the gap between the AAA releases, which have longer development cycles.
Star Wars video games in development
At the time of writing, there are still four major Star Wars games in development, but none of them have release dates yet. Those games are:
- A remake of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, which was announced in 2021 but has been in development hell ever since, having now swapped developers to Saber Interactive.
- Star Wars: Eclipse, which was also announced in 2021 and is in development at Quantic Dream. It’s not seen any updates since the vague teaser trailer and although the studio insists it’s still being worked on, there are rumours that it could be cancelled due to a lack of resources and layoffs.
- Star Wars Jedi 3 was announced in 2024 and is expected to conclude Respawn’s trilogy of Cal Kestis games. If recent rumours are to be believed, it could see a proper reveal trailer this year and then launch in 2027.
- Star Wars: Fate Of The Old Republic was announced in 2025 and is the debut title of Arcanaut Studios, a new studio founded by Casey Hudson, who directed Mass Effect and the original Knights Of The Old Republic at BioWare. It’s only had a teaser trailer so far, but Hudson has promised it’ll be out before 2030.
This all seems a far more interesting future for Star Wars than the films are currently offering. Despite promises of multiple movie projects, only one – Star Wars: Starfighter – has shown signs of life and will release next year.
There is talk of a new trilogy of films that will form the next saga, but it’s being overseen by the writer of X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix, which couldn’t be less encouraging.
At the same time, Lucasfilm keeps announcing new films by big name directors, only for them to be cancelled before anything is seen of them – with Taika Waititi’s unnamed project being the latest victim just this week.
It’s unclear when any new Star Wars game might get announced or released, beyond the rumours of Star Wars Jedi 3, but it is the 50th anniversary of Star Wars in 2027, so it seems reasonable to imagine that new titles will be announced during the course of next year.
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