With the formation of Lucasfilm Games rubber-stamped, the new initiative doesn’t appear to be wasting any time ramping up the greenlighting of Star Wars titles.
French video game publisher Ubisoft is to partner with Lucasfilm Games on a new open-world Star Wars game. An interview with Lucasfilm Games VP, Douglas Reilly, on StarWars.com states that Ubisoft studio Massive Entertainment, the studio behind Tom Clancy’s The Division, will be developing the title with Julian Gerighty (The Division 2 and The Crew) set to assume the role as the games creative director.
“The vast Star Wars lore is an incredible source of inspiration for our teams,” said Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO of Ubisoft. “This is the beginning of a long-term collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm Games, and we are pleased to be working hand-in-hand to build upon the incredible legacy of Lucasfilm to create a game that we know Star Wars fans will love.”
Details on the title are, naturally, sparse. A report from Wired states that the game is still very early in its development, pointing to an active recruitment drive within the studio. It does state, however, that the game will utilize Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine — primarily used in the aforementioned The Division titles, as well as several other games under the Ubisoft umbrella.
Ubisoft, themselves, has an extensive history in the open-world genre, with series’ such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry, all garnering great levels of success.
The interview gives us a major indication as to the future licensing of the Star Wars brand. In addition to working with Ubisoft on this new experience, EA Games will continue to develop titles in the Star Wars universe. With EA Games’ 10-year exclusivity deal set to expire in 2023, it’s exciting that Lucasfilm will be more open to collaboration with multiple studios. The announcement of a new Indiana Jones title from Bethesda on Tuesday is further proof of the new division’s interest in collaboration.
Star Wars fans have been offered few video game experiences over the past decade. The series has a storied past in the medium. EA Games have provided four console titles over the course of their exclusivity deal, a far cry from the volume of titles released prior. We can only hope that this news is a sign of things to come, and we start to see an increase in Star Wars titles moving forward.
Are you looking forward to an open-world Star Wars title? Are there any studios you’d like to see handle a Star Wars release? Let us know in the comments!