Star Wars has had a long and storied history with video games. Now, it appears that the next generation of these games is about to be ushered in the coming years.
Lucasfilm announced on Monday that they would be re-branding their video games division, officially bringing all of the Star Wars titles under a banner known as Lucasfilm Games.
“With Lucasfilm and the galaxy far, far away entering a new and unprecedented phase of creativity, so will the world of Lucasfilm Games developed in collaboration with the finest studios across the industry,” the statement read. The announcement came with a quick sizzle reel:
The exact details of what this means for Star Wars video games are unclear. The Star Wars license has been held by EA Games since 2013. However, the company has come under fire for the quality of its games. Star Wars Battlefront II in particular became one of the most criticized video games of all time due to its controversy surrounding microtransactions and lootboxes.
EA holds the Star Wars license until 2023, so it can probably be assumed that the company will still be at the helm of the next few titles that are released under the Lucasfilm Games brand. There is at least one big Star Wars game awaiting release: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the culmination of the extremely popular Lego Star Wars series, is scheduled to be released in Spring 2021.
The details of any other upcoming games have yet to be revealed, but there are likely some big projects being worked on. EA has confirmed that 2019’s popular Jedi: Fallen Order is to be “the first title in an entirely new franchise.” In addition, news came to light today that three key actors from Star Wars Battlefront II are working on motion capture for an undisclosed project.
Fans have been clamoring for a potential Star Wars Battlefront III ever since the live service for the previous installment ended. However, no official word on what project the three actors are working on has been given. Fans have also been begging for a good single-player Star Wars game, so perhaps the motion capture could be related to that type of project as well.
Lucasfilm has had a long and storied history of creating Star Wars games. From classics like the Rogue Squadron series to massively multiplayer online games like Star Wars: The Old Republic, there is certainly no shortage of great games in a galaxy far, far away. Hopefully, Lucasfilm Games will continue the tradition of making great titles for Star Wars fans.