Ubisoft’s Star Wars Game Suffers Major Setback
The galaxy far, far away just got a little further. While news of an open-world Star Wars game is a major milestone for the world of sabers and Sith, a departure over at Ubisoft has teased we're still a few lightyears away from jumping into the action.
There's a lot going on at Ubisoft right now, with the promise of an open-world Star Wars game following in the footsteps of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Although both titles will be very different, the next-gen Avatar game should give us a taste of what Massive Entertainment can do with Star Wars.
What's going on with Ubisoft's Star Wars game?
Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment is heading up the mysterious Star Wars project, however, Managing Director David Polfeldt is stepping down from his position. Explaining why now is the right time to leave Massive after 17 years, Polfeldt said, "Seventeen years ago I joined a small Malmö-based indie-studio in a role that the founder defined as 'Mister FixIt'. Little did I know what a roller-coaster adventure it would become!
"When we signed Star Wars, and finally completed our beautiful building Eden in 2020, I felt an overwhelming sense of completion, as if I had achieved everything I once dreamt of", continued Polfeldt. "Standing on the solid foundation of The Division, Avatar, Snowdrop, and Ubisoft Connect, the studio is in fantastic shape, and I am exceptionally grateful for what we have accomplished together. Before I embark on a new adventure in Ubisoft, I will try something else which is new and exciting to me: a long break! Wish me luck, and see you in 2022".
A new MD has been found, but will be announced at a "later date". By the sounds of it, acquiring the rights to an open-world Star Wars game was part of Polfeldt's decision to step down. Deciding he'd done all he could, it's entirely possible he never planned to steer the Millennium Falcon and work had already been planned for someone else to take the reins.
When will Ubisoft's Star Wars game be released?
In terms of an affected release date, we don't know whether Polfeldt stepping down will actually change things much. It's unclear how close to the Star Wars game he was, or how far along the game is. Bearing in mind the game was only announced this year, we assume it's still in the early stages. Ubisoft's Avatar game was announced in 2017 and is targeting a 2022 release date, meaning we "could" expect Star Wars in 2026.
If you think the production of movies takes a long time, that's nothing compared to video games. A five-year gap is to be expected. For example, work on Resident Evil Village started six months before Resident Evil 7 released, and that was all the way back in 2017. Let's also remember, the idea of an open-world Star Wars game has been out in the aether for years. There are high hopes we could see ideas from the canned Star Wars 1313 being reused.
Whatever Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft are working on, we're expecting an open-world Star Wars game to be suitably "massive" and open the door to a whole new galaxy of adventures. For now though, Massive is remaining tight-lipped on exactly what's going on behind the scenes. Who knows, maybe the team is building its own functional Death Star?