Newly established gaming branch Lucasfilm Games is continuing its busy week by announcing a brand new Star Wars game – and EA isn’t involved. Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment, the studio behind The Division, will develop an open-world, story-driven Star Wars game. Next to nothing is known about this new adventure, but it’s safe to assume it won’t arrive until 2023 at the earliest.
We’re thrilled to announce we are working with @Ubisoft and @UbiMassive to develop a brand-new, story-driven, open-world Star Wars adventure!
Learn more about the future of @LucasfilmGames in the Star Wars galaxy and beyond: https://t.co/uO1K1pivl2 pic.twitter.com/wRDccZvi3o
— Lucasfilm Games (@LucasfilmGames) January 13, 2021
A post at the Star Wars website explains that Julian Gerighty will be creative director on the project, leading the Massive Entertainment team alongside David Polfeldt. The game will utilize the proprietary Snowdrop engine.
Today’s news might come as a shock to those familiar with Star Wars video games; EA and Disney entered a licensing deal in 2013 that allows EA to exclusively publish titles within that universe until 2023. Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilly clarified that the team remains proud of what EA has accomplished in the Star Wars universe: “We will continue working with them and our relationship has never been stronger. While we may not have a lot of details to share at the moment, we’ve got a number of projects underway with the talented teams at EA.”
In other words, games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order could still receive a sequel from EA, but you can expect other publishers and developers, such as Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, to be involved in creating Star Wars projects in the future as well. More announcements will be made throughout the next “year or so.”
“This is really the culmination of years of preparing to come out and say, ‘We’re here, we’ve got a team of people, we’re going to make a lot of great games, and here’s some new things you weren’t expecting from us to do that we’re now starting to do,’” Reilly said. “And that’s going to continue throughout the next year or so, where we’re going to continue to announce projects that are more representative of the legacy of the old Lucasfilm Games that we’re now trying to live up to.”
Lucasfilm Games revealed a partnership with Bethesda’s MachineGames yesterday for an Indiana Jones game is in the works. Few details are known about this project as well, so again, stay tuned for more updates as we continue to learn more about the future for both Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
