Lucasfilm Games is looking to expand its partnerships with smaller studios for more unusual Star Wars games, following the success of recent releases like Zero Company and Galactic Racer. In an interview with The Game Business, Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilley discussed the company's evolving strategy for licensing the franchise.
Recent successes and strategy shift
Over the past couple of months, fans received Zero Company, an XCOM homage, and Galactic Racer, a Burnout-style racing game. Both have been well received, with Zero Company selling over a million copies. While exact sales figures for Galactic Racer are unavailable, it ranks among the highest-scoring Star Wars games on Metacritic and has become a viral hit on social media, partly due to the minor character Biddy Blas.
Reilley noted that 'huge AAA games' like Star Wars Battlefront will remain a 'central part' of the company's video game strategy. However, he added, 'One of the great things about Star Wars is it has all kinds of other opportunities to tell stories in different genres. … And so the goal has really been [to] find the best partner who makes that experience come alive.'
Openness to smaller teams
Reilley expressed openness to more AA experiences similar to Zero Company and Galactic Racer, which were developed by smaller studios. Despite its scope and budget, he still considers Galactic Racer an 'AAA experience,' an impressive feat given it is developer Fuse Games' debut title, though the studio includes veterans from Burnout developer Criterion Games.
Reflecting on the company's approach, Reilley said, 'I think we've tried to be more flexible about who we're willing to take pitches from, and… good ideas can come from a lot of different places.' He acknowledged hurdles, noting, 'We have a high quality bar and we want to make sure they're excellent experiences and that means typically you work with more experienced teams than, you know, new teams who have no track record of making great things. But we're exploring all kinds of things that large and small with partners that I think are going to continue to surprise folks…'
Upcoming Star Wars games
Smaller titles could fill gaps between AAA releases, which have longer development cycles. Currently, four major Star Wars games are in development without release dates: a remake of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic (now at Saber Interactive after being announced in 2021), Star Wars: Eclipse (in development at Quantic Dream since 2021), Star Wars Jedi 3 (announced in 2024, expected to conclude Respawn's trilogy), and Star Wars: Fate Of The Old Republic (announced in 2025, debut title of Arcanaut Studios, founded by Casey Hudson).
With the 50th anniversary of Star Wars in 2027, new titles could be announced next year, though no official announcements have been made beyond rumours of Star Wars Jedi 3.
