What you need to know
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was one of the biggest action-adventure games of 2023, and is often considered one of the best Star Wars games in recent years.
- Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced a last-gen release for it on Xbox One and PS4 just over a year ago, but has only just now given an official release date for it.
- It's coming next month on September 17, 2024, and is being sold as an entirely separate edition of the game that's $49.99 — a full $20 cheaper than the regular version's $69.99.
- EA is also offering an $80 cross-gen bundle that includes access to the last-gen and current-gen versions of both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, but its price doesn't appear to reduce if you already own any of the versions included in it.
One of 2023's biggest new games was Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — a sequel to the popular 2019 action-adventure title Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order that continues the story of Jedi Cal Kestis as he fights to survive amidst the height of the Galactic Empire's reign over the galaxy far, far away. It was a massive hit when it launched on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5, and now, it's finally headed to last-gen Xbox One and PS4 systems soon.
Andrew Wilson, CEO of publisher Electronic Arts (EA), announced the game was coming to these consoles just over a year ago, but for the longest time, there's been no concrete follow-up on that commitment. That led me to believe the studio chose to quietly cancel its plan, but no: today, EA has finally given fans an update, confirming that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is scheduled to arrive on Xbox One and PS4 in just over a month.
"The critically acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on September 17, 2024!" reads a post made on the official EA Star Wars X (Twitter) account. It includes links to where you can preorder the upcoming last-gen version of the game, which is notably an entirely separate edition of it that costs $20 less — $49.99 instead of the regular $69.99 MSRP. By preordering, you'll get access to the Jedi Survival Cosmetic Pack that includes a skin, lightsaber set, and blaster set inspired by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The critically acclaimed #StarWarsJediSurvivor is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on September 17, 2024!Pre-order now!Xbox ➡️ https://t.co/wFlNBQefB2PlayStation ➡️ https://t.co/EduLFc6RMK pic.twitter.com/dhhrrcc4KhAugust 6, 2024
With its excellent visuals, storytelling, and Sekiro-like gameplay, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is unquestionably one of the best action-adventure titles you can play right now (check out our review for a deep dive). With that said, the game was fairly notorious for its performance issues at launch, and while they've improved substantially on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, PC optimization is still a mixed bag. This may explain why EA is publishing a separate Xbox One and PS4 release instead of updating the current game to be compatible with these systems.
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By making a version specifically for Xbox One and PS4, EA and developer Respawn Entertainment have likely been able to make deeper and more significant downgrades to the game's presentation than they'd be able to otherwise. This is just speculation, of course, but it makes sense given the game's performance problems on modern gaming hardware. Downgrades are undoubtedly needed to make Star Wars Jedi: Survivor enjoyable to play on last-gen (we'll have to wait until September 17 to find out if it actually is).
The downside to this is that Xbox One and PS4 players will be stuck with a last-gen edition of it if they decide to upgrade to Xbox Series X|S or PS5, but there is a $79.99 cross-gen bundle available to purchase that gives you access to both the last-gen and current-gen editions of both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Something important to be aware of, however, is that the bundle's price doesn't seem to be reduced if you already own some of the games and game versions included in it.
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Another thing to know is that right now, it's not clear if you'll get access to the last-gen version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor through EA Play (the regular edition of it is on the service). You can save 10% on it or the cross-gen bundle if you're subscribed to the service, though (or if you're an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate member, as it includes EA Play on Microsoft's consoles).
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Analysis: It's finally coming, but it's being handled terribly
While it's great to see that one of the best Xbox games and best PC games is finally headed to last-gen consoles, the way EA is actually handling the release isn't consumer-friendly at all. Selling an $80 cross-gen bundle instead of just offering folks who buy the Xbox One or PS4 version a simple (and ideally, free) upgrade they can take advantage of when they migrate to Xbox Series X|S or PS5 is pretty greedy, and the fact the price doesn't seem to be reduced if you already own some of the versions in it is ridiculous (we checked with accounts we own both games on).
$80 for both versions of both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor isn't a bad deal at all, but I only recommend buying it if you don't own Fallen Order already. If you do, either get the upcoming standalone last-gen release of Survivor or just wait and buy the current-gen one if you're planning to upgrade to Xbox Series X|S or PS5 in the near future.
