There are a lot of layoffs happening in the games industry right now, and EA has just announced it will be losing another 5% of its workforce — which amounts to around 670 jobs. On top of that a number of upcoming games projects have been canceled, including Respawn’s long-awaited Star Wars first person shooter.
That just means another Star Wars game is being lost to the already-large pile of Star Wars games that were canceled since Disney took over the franchise in 2012. They include games that were canned because they pre-date the Lucasfilm buyout and others that have been announced in the years since — most of which were also canceled by EA.
Respawn’s Star Wars game was announced back in 2022, and the only concrete piece of information we had was that it would be a first person shooter. The cancellation was confirmed by EA entertainment president Laura Miele (via Venture Beat), following CEO Andrew Wilson’s announcement of the new wave of layoffs.
Developers are reportedly being reassigned to other projects including Apex Legends, the sequel to Jedi Survivor as well as upcoming Marvel games Iron Man and Black Panther. It also sounds like EA will be focusing more on its existing brands and content from now on.
Developers are reportedly being reassigned to other projects including Apex Legends, the sequel to Jedi Survivor as well as upcoming Marvel games Iron Man and Black Panther.
“It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game,” said Miele’s note. “Giving fans the next installments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”
It’s a situation that sucks for everyone involved. People have lost their jobs, others will see their effort never come to fruition and Star Wars fans will never be able to play whatever Respawn was working on.
Respawn has done a fantastic job with Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor, and has solid first person shooter experience with the likes of Titanfall and Apex Legends. I know I’m not the only one that was looking forward to seeing what they could do with a Star Wars license.
It’s not clear what other upcoming games have been canceled. However EA will be ending support for a number of mobile titles including F1 Mobile Racing, MLB Tap Sports and Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth.
Until we hear otherwise, we can assume that Respawn’s gestating Star Wars strategy game is still going ahead, as is the third game in the Jedi series. Likewise Star Wars games are in the works from other publishers including Quantic Dream’s Star Wars Eclipse, plus Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws — due later this year. A remake of Knights of the Old Republic was also announced, but there's no sign that it'll be released anytime soon, assuming it hasn't been quietly canceled.
Here’s hoping that the trend of announcing, then canceling Star Wars games will end soon. The galaxy far far away deserves better than a pile of broken promises and dreams.
