It’s been nearly 10 years since Disney released their first proper mainstreamStar Warsgame in the form of EA’sStar Wars Battlefrontafter acquiring Lucasfilm and shutting down LucasArts. As the first majorStar Warsgame developed under Disney, many fans expressed concern about games of the property going forward, givenBattlefront’s lack of content compared to Pandemic Studios’Battlefronttitles. This concern seemed to dissipate at first with the release of Respawn Entertainment’s critically acclaimedStar Wars Jediseries. However, developments in recentStar Warsgame releases have increased concern forStar Warsgaming once more, putting more pressure on upcoming games to succeed both financially and critically.
The Many Missteps of Disney-era Star Wars Games
This does not include mobile-exclusive Star Wars games such asStar Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
As not only the first majorStar Warsgame release under Disney but the game to revive the widely celebratedBattlefrontseries,EA’sStar Wars Battlefronthad a lot to live up to. However, for most players, EA’sBattlefrontwas seen as a disappointment for numerous issues, such as lacking a campaign, being restricted to the Galactic Civil War, and featuring mechanics completely different from classicBattlefronttitles. Despite the criticism, 2015’sBattlefrontbecame a commercial success, selling over 14 million copies by 2017. Concern with DisneyStar Warsgames continued with 2016’sLEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakensas this was the firstLEGO Star Warsgame to focus primarily on one film, which stretched its missions a little thin.
2017 was arguably the peak of fan concern forStar Warsgames due to the tumultuous launch ofEA’sStar Wars Battlefront 2. EA did address many issues from 2015’sBattlefront, such as featuring factions from all threeStar Warsfilm trilogies and including a single-player campaign, but it introduced a plethora of new issues. These ranged from initially featuring a deceptive loot box monetization progression system to many feelingBattlefront 2’s marketing lied to players about the campaign’s length and content. While fan reception ofBattlefront 2has grown more positive over the years due to several free updates adding long-desired content,Battlefront 2is still best known for its wide-reaching controversies rather than its improvements.
Disney-Era Star Wars Game Issues Post-Battlefront 2
Following the release of 2019’sStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, player sentiment towards newStar Warsgames began to improve, though many games still featured critical issues. For example,2020’sStar Wars: Squadronsoffered immersive first-person starfighter combat, but its lack of multiplayer game modes didn’t keep gamers playing for long. Similarly, Zynga announced that its free-to-playStar Wars: Huntersgame will have its servers shut down by October 2025, only a few months afterHunters’ one-year anniversary, due to poor sales and player retention. Finally,Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s first DisneyStar Warsgame, faced criticism due to restrictive stealth and open-world gameplay mechanics as well as expensive DLC content, which causedOutlawsto underperform in sales.
The Pressure of Upcoming Star Wars Games
WithStar Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderandStar Wars Jedi: Survivorbeing the only two overwhelmingly well-received Disney-eraStar Warsgames released so far, there’s a lot of critical and financial pressure for upcomingStar Warsgames to succeed. There’s especially pressure for upcomingStar Warsgames that have been stuck in development for several years, such asQuantic Dream’sStar Wars Eclipseand Saber Interactive’sStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republicremake. Both games were first announced in 2021, but official news on gameplay, story, and other features has yet to emerge.EclipseandKOTOR’s lack of information are attributed to internal development issues, withKOTORbeing initially developed by Aspyr but later switched to Saber Interactive in 2022.
Star Wars Eclipsemay face an uphill battle for both development issues and the setting of the game itself. When Quantic Dream was announced as the developer ofEclipse, many fans called for Disney to replace the developer due to Quantic Dream reportedly hosting a poor workplace environment and struggling to hire employees.Eclipseis additionally set in theHigh Republic era ofStar Wars,set roughly 200 years beforeStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. While the books of the High Republic initiative have been well received, its first live action appearance in Disney+’sThe Acolytewas met with mixed to negative reviews. Given thatThe Acolytewas many fans’ first encounter with the High Republic, some players may be put off byEclipse’s place in the timeline.
Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Future
Respawn Entertainment itself has its hands full withStar Warsgame development with the upcomingStar Wars Zero Companyas well as the third entry in theStar Wars Jediseries. Development on both of these titles may be strenuous as EA recently laid off about 300 employees from Respawn, resulting in the cancellation of aTitanfalluniverse game. Meanwhile,Zero Companyis already facing an uphill battle because of the very nature of being asingle-player turn-based tactics game, a relatively niche genre that not every player may enjoy gameplay wise. On top ofZero Company, Respawn has to ensure the thirdStar Wars Jedigame is as much of a hit as its predecessors to makeStar Wars Jedione of the most celebrated trilogies in the entire franchise.
