Electronic Arts has just announced plans for Respawn to oversee the development of three Star Wars games, including the anticipated sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order, a first-person shooter helmed by Battlefront director Peter Hirschmann, and a strategy game in the works from Bit Reactor, the brand new studio comprising the developers of XCOM and Civilization.
Call of Duty creator Vince Zampella, who founded Respawn in 2010, will serve as the executive foreman on all three projects, though EA has made it clear that three distinct teams will be working on these upcoming video games in the galaxy far, far away.
The first project, the as-yet untitled sequel to Jedi Fallen Order, is currently in production at the hands of Respawn’s finest. As for the other two games, the studio will serve as a producer, while Hirschmann and Greg Foerstch’s (Bit Reactor boss) teams work on their individual titles.
“We are excited to continue working with the superbly talented developers at Respawn,” says Lucasfilm Games VP Douglas Reilly. “They have demonstrated excellence in telling epic Star Wars stories along with best-in-class gameplay across different genres and we are looking forward to bringing more amazing experiences to the galaxy far, far away.”
Peter Hirschmann was once the vice president of the dissolved LucasArts, serving as executive producer on a number of Star Wars games, including the original Battlefront titles. Greg Foerstch is also a veteran of the strategy scene, having worked on projects like Sid Meier’s Civilization and XCOM. With these two people at the helm, the new Star Wars projects are definitely in good hands.
Of course, fans shouldn’t be expecting to see them anytime soon. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the Jedi: Fallen Order sequel could well be on its way in 2022, but the other two are still in the early stages of production.
It feels like decades since we saw Star Wars as a real-time or even a turn-based strategy game. The franchise has also been absent from the FPS genre since 2017’s Battlefront II, so it’ll be interesting to see what Hirschmann’s team cooks up now that he has the reins again.