Ever since Disney has gotten its hands on Star Wars, the property has been milked in nearly every conceivable entertainment industry, whether it be in films, live-action series, cartoons, merchandising, theme parks, and far more. But it seems the company wants to apply these strategies to the video game industry as well.
Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson reported today that his sources claim Disney plans to get to a point where the company is launching a Star Wars game every six months. During a year, Disney wants at least one major AAA title released, alongside a smaller game. We're not sure what "smaller game" means exactly, but my best guess is that it'll include mobile titles.
This is an alarming number of game releases per year, but considering everything we've seen announced thus far, it seems somewhat plausible.
Star Wars games announced so far
Ubisoft Massive, developers of The Division and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, is currently working on an untitled Star Wars game. We know it'll be a "story-driven open-world" game, but not much beyond that.
Respawn Entertainment is beloved for its work on Titanfall, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but the team is apparently working on three new Star Wars games. This includes Jedi: Survivor, which we've already seen a teaser for, but it also includes an untitled strategy game and first-person shooter.
Star Wars: Eclipse, which received an incredible cinematic trailer at Summer Games Fest, is in development at Quantic Dream. We know it'll be more on the action-adventure side of things, meaning it will probably be a little different from Beyond: Two Souls or Detroit: Become Human.
Amy Hennig, director of the Uncharted trilogy, is also working on a new Star Wars game with Skydance Media. She had previously been director on Project Ragtag, an EA Star Wars game that had been unfortunately cancelled, so seeing her get to return to a project in the franchise is quite exciting.
There's also the Knights of the Old Republic Remake from Saber Interactive, but that was delayed indefinitely.
That's a lot of Star Wars! Plenty of these games are many years away, and we've only seen a teaser for one and a cinematic trailer for another. It's totally feasible to imagine these games stacking up into a rotation that results in Disney's bi-yearly plans. And according to Henderson's sources, many more are unannounced.
Is having Star Wars this often good?
However, it's not easy to coordinate multiple studios under different publishers and line their game launches that close to one another. Even if it does work, games that attempt to push such a schedule often suffer as a result.
Assassin's Creed has had to take constant breaks to catch up and Call of Duty is reportedly taking a break in 2023 after a recent entry "failed to meet expectations" (looking at your, Vanguard). Can Disney really subvert these expectations and give us something that frequently without sacrificing the quality?
We've also seen Disney attempt this exact strategy with its Disney+ programming and theatrical Star Wars releases. Shows like The Book of Boba Fett come and go without making much of an impact, and fans quite strongly disliked Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Focusing on quantity over quality could compromise the magic of the franchise in the same way those films and shows have.
It's certainly a risk, but if it does pay off, Star Wars could be given a whole new life through gaming. If not, it'll just be another place where the franchise has come to die.
