‘Star Wars’ Game In Development From ‘Titanfall’ Studio, ‘God Of War 3’ Director
A new Star Wars game for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC is in development at Electronic Arts. That may not be a surprise, but the development studio and game director involved should definitely raise some eyebrows. Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the Titanfall series is developing the game led by God of War 3 director, Stig Asmussen.
Details on the new Star Wars game is understandably light at this point with the fresh announcement. There is no word on setting, characters, much else. What is known is that it will be a third-person action-adventure title. Additionally, a job listing for a Technical Artist on the Respawn Careers website indicates the game will be developed using the Unreal Engine 4 engine. Respawn currently uses a heavily modified version of Valve’s Source engine for Titanfall and its sequel, while most other EA studios use the Frostbite 3 engine developed by DICE.
Another job listing seeks a Creature Concept Artist to “create strong designs of fictional but believable creatures” for the new Star Wars game. You’d expect that from a universe full of aliens, but the job listing interestingly specifically calls out “designs of predator and prey,” not aliens.
We are thrilled to announce that we're working with @Respawn on a new #StarWars game: https://t.co/V0XliTbAr9 pic.twitter.com/IuS3vw3BVm
— Electronic Arts (@EA) May 4, 2016
Development of Titanfall 2 does not appear to be affected by the addition of the Star Wars project. A new team to be led by Stig Asmussen is being formed at the studio to handle the additional work, who said he has “a good feeling about this” in a letter posted to the Respawn website.
“We promise to pay respect to the Star Wars legacy at all times, a fact that will be constantly reinforced and honored as a central game design tenet,” Asmussen wrote. “Fans should expect the exemplary level of quality first established at Respawn with Titanfall, a game that epitomizes our studio’s dedication to slick, larger-than-life action and fun, groundbreaking mechanics. Moving forward, we couldn’t ask for a better universe in which to continue this journey.”
This makes yet another Star Wars title to be developed by Electronic Arts. Everyone is familiar with DICE’s work on Star Wars: Battlefront by now. Additionally, another game set in the universe is being developed by Visceral Games and Motive, last rumored to be an action-RPG led by Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond and Uncharted producer Amy Hennig. The latter producer led to initial rumors of the game being styled after the Uncharted franchise.
The addition of another Star Wars game under the Electronic Arts umbrella certainly gave EA Studios Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund something to crow about.
“Today, I’m thrilled to be able to announce that EA and the talented team at Respawn Entertainment have expanded our relationship to include the development of an all-new 3rd person action adventure game set in the Star Wars universe,” Söderlund extolled via a post titled “The Force is Strong with EA” on the Electronic Arts website. “They join our other great studios – Visceral Games, DICE, Capital Games, BioWare, Motive and more – who are currently working on Star Wars projects.”
A release window for the new Star Wars game from Respawn Entertainment was not revealed in the announcement. If it is only just now getting started, do not expect to see it on your console or PC anytime soon. It could take as little as 18 months or up to three years or more depending on the scope involved.
What do you think of a new Star Wars title from Respawn Entertainment and Stig Asmussen? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via LucasFilm]
