Electronic Arts (EA) has a license to exclusively create Star Wars games for IP owner Disney until 2023 — but 2023 isn’t far away anymore. Along those lines, Lucasfilm Games has announced that Ubisoft and Ubisoft’s in-house developer Massive Entertainment will create an open-world, story-driven Star Wars video game. The game will run on the proprietary Snowdrop Engine, and Massive Entertainment Managing Director David Polfeldt and Creative Director Julian Gerighty will lead the development. (Massive is the developer of The Division.) Zero details have been revealed about the open-world Ubisoft Star Wars game otherwise, including platforms or release date, and the game is seemingly in early development.
We are super proud to share this with all of you today. This is a galaxy that we love and want to do justice through a game and story that bring both lifelong and new fans on an immersive and outstanding journey that will stay with them for years! https://t.co/c8E3hfqPkM
— Massive Entertainment – A Ubisoft Studio ? (@UbiMassive) January 13, 2021
Speaking to Wired, Lucasfilm Games Vice President Douglas Reilly added extra context to Lucasfilm Games’ recent partnerships, stating that they ultimately have “final approval” over everything developers do with their IP. He also said that there is “no shortage of folks knocking on our door, wanting to play with our toys.”
Presuming this Star Wars game does indeed release in 2023 or later, that would likely mean Nintendo will have released its next-generation console, a “Nintendo Switch 2” or what have you. Ubisoft often attempts to be platform-agnostic as technology allows, so there is at least a chance we might see Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars game on Nintendo hardware someday.
Whether the same is true of Bethesda and MachineGames’ newly announced Indiana Jones game for Lucasfilm Games remains to be seen.
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