Lucasfilm Games Expands Star Wars Licensing to Independent Studios
- Two notable Star Wars games were released this year by independent studios: Zero Company and Galactic Racer.
- Lucasfilm Games is shifting its licensing strategy to accept pitches from a wider range of developers.
- The current lineup of Star Wars games includes Quantic Dream’s Eclipse and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi series.
This year has featured the release of two acclaimed Star Wars games: Zero Company, which draws inspiration from XCOM, and Galactic Racer, reminiscent of the Burnout series. Both titles were developed by independent studios, contrasting with larger companies like Ubisoft and EA, which have traditionally produced Star Wars games, including Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws and EA’s Star Wars Battlefront.
Douglas Reilly, a prominent figure at Lucasfilm Games, revealed to The Game Business that the strategy to diversify who is granted the game license was a deliberate decision. Reilly explained, “We’re obviously a licensing business, so we’re not the publishers any more of products. Our goal is to try and find a publishing partner and a developer or a publisher and a developer. I think we’ve tried to be more flexible about who we’re willing to take pitches from. Good ideas can come from a lot of different places.”
This shift marks a significant change from Lucasfilm Games’ previous strategy of granting exclusive rights to a single publisher, which had been EA. This model faced criticism for restricting creative output, constraining the number of games and genres available to fans. By embracing a broader range of developers, Lucasfilm Games hopes to foster a more diverse selection of Star Wars titles and increase release frequency.
Reilly noted that there are no specific tiers of publishers they are targeting, stating, “There are some hurdles; 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 new teams.” However, he emphasized that it is not necessary to be among the top publishers to create a successful Star Wars game.
Looking ahead, Reilly hinted at exciting future developments in the Star Wars gaming realm: “We’re exploring all kinds of things, large and small,” he mentioned, suggesting partnerships that may surprise fans.
Currently, the announced Star Wars games remain limited. Quantic Dream’s long-anticipated Star Wars Eclipse is in development, along with the third installment of Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi series. Additionally, Casey Hudson, former lead of Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic, is working on a sequel titled Fate of the Old Republic, while Saber Interactive continues to assert that the Knights of the Old Republic Remake is in production.
News Courtesy of Eurogamer
