Star Wars Eclipse was undoubtedly one of the biggest reveals at The Game Awards 2021. Developed by French studio Quantic Dream, Eclipse is set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars canon and will offer an “intricately branching action-adventure game.”
It all sounds pretty exciting, and the hype levels from the fiercely dedicated Star Wars community have already gone into overdrive. Unfortunately, adding a slight damper to this growing anticipation is the news that Star Wars Eclipse could be a minimum of three to four years from launch.
This clam comes from reputable leaker Tom Henderson, who reported some additional information about Eclipse in the wake of its announcement. Alongside noting that controversial industry figure David Cage is “very much involved,” Henderson suggests that Quantic Dream is currently struggling to hire enough staff to work on the game, which will no doubt lead to production issues and delays.
A few things on #StarWarsEclipse - Being written by QD Paris (David Cage is very much involved)- Eclipse is believed to be around 3-4 years away MINIMUM - QD Paris is currently struggling with hiring staff (I wonder why)December 10, 2021
Another problem that the team at Quantic Dreams is facing according to Henderson is that Eclipse is a video game not quite in the team’s wheelhouse. Known primarily for making cinematic narrative games that are light on gameplay, Eclipse is reportedly a more ambitious title that the team’s existing development tools aren’t necessarily equipped to create. Sounds like a recipe for a lengthy development.
It's not gone unnoticed that the game's slick cinematic announcement trailer didn’t offer even a vague release year. It’s fair to say that the odds of Eclipse being released in the near future are pretty slim. The trailer didn’t even confirm what platforms the game will eventually release on — though PS5, Xbox Series X and PC seem a safe bet.
Furthermore, a blog post on the Star Wars website announced that the game is “currently in the early stages of development," which again would appear to back up Henderson’s claims. All evidence definitely points towards a game that still has plenty of development work ahead. The notion that we won’t be playing Star Wars Eclipse until 2025 or 2026 or even beyond definitely seems plausible.
This news will surely come as disappointing to Star Wars fans, especially as the game’s first trailer painted the picture of a highly promising game. Questions could also be asked as to why the game has been announced already if it’s so still so far from launch. Nevertheless, while we wait for further updates, we’ll just have to rewatch the announcement trailer on repeat.
