After three years, what’s happening with Star Wars Eclipse?

Star Wars media under Disney has a habit of being a bit carefree when it comes to release dates. Video games seem to be no exception. Despite being announced almost three years ago, there has been little movement surrounding Star Wars Eclipse.

From developer Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human), the new game set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe has apparently been in the works for years but with little more than a cinematic trailer to show for it.

To be fair, the cinematic trailer was awesome. Just cool enough to get us excited and different enough to hold our attention. The only problem is, there just isn’t any real information about the game. And as mentioned above, the announcement was close to three whole years ago.

While this isn’t anything new for the beleaguered video game industry, having a full-scale trailer and a huge gap of time between meaningful updates is noteworthy, particularly when it comes to a brand like Star Wars.

The initial announcement at the November 2021 Game awards was met with a great deal of excitement and just a bit of controversy. More on that later.

Formerly, the licence to produce Star Wars games was held exclusively by video game giant Electronic Arts (EA). This ten-year deal led to the production of the relaunched Battlefront titles as well as Jedi: Fallen Order, its sequel and a whole lotta mobile games.

With the licence due to expire in October of this year, the possibilities are open for new studios to have their take on the galaxy far, far away. In partnership with Quantic Dream, the future of Star Wars games is now back in the hands of Lucasfilm Games (previously LucasArts).

On par with the excitement regarding the new project was also some serious reactions from fans concerning the involvement of Quantic Dream. The French studio had become embroiled in a legal dispute over allegedly harsh working conditions. The studio has been accused of being an unsafe space for women and LGBTQIA+ workers. This resulting in the trending hashtag: #BlackoutStarWarsEclipse gaining significant traction. Despite this, neither Quantic Dream nor Lucasfilm has made any official statement regarding the allegations.

According to the game's official website, it is set in the High Republic era, some hundreds of years before the Skywalker Saga. The game will allow players to make story-affecting decisions and maintain a strong emphasis on character development.

As it currently stands, Eclipse has no official release date, meaning that it is still likely several years away. One report from Xfire, claiming to have spoken to sources “close to Quantic Dream,” has claimed that due to the studio's difficulty in hiring new talent the game may come out as late as 2027 or 2028.