For a while, Electronic Arts had the exclusive rights to publish Star Wars games. For the first few years, the company didn’t do very much with those rights, focusing on mobile titles and two forgettable Battlefront shooters. But everything changed with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, one of the finest action/adventure titles of the previous console generation. Now, EA has confirmed that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 is officially on the way, along with two other Star Wars games from Respawn Entertainment.
Information comes directly from EA, in a post on the company’s website announcing the new project.
"Game Director Stig Asmussen and his team at the studio are already working on the next game in the action adventure Star Wars Jedi series, and are joined by two new teams working to deliver additional unique Star Wars gameplay experiences across multiple genres," the post reads.
The first of the three game announcements is, of course, Jedi: Fallen Order 2, which will hopefully have a catchier title once it debuts. While EA hadn’t officially confirmed the sequel until today, the company has hinted that it’s been in development for a while, and fans never really doubted that it was on the way. There’s no information about potential release dates or story beats, but we expect EA will talk about the game again before too long — perhaps on May 4 (Star Wars Day), or during E3 2022.
The other two games are arguably more interesting, if only because EA hadn’t hinted at either prior. The first is an "all-new Star Wars first-person shooter" from producer Peter Hirschmann. Previously, Hirschmann worked on a variety of Star Wars games, from Lego Star Wars II to The Force Unleashed, and has first-person shooter experience from the Medal of Honor series.
The upcoming Star Wars strategy game should be something of a treat for genre fans, as we haven’t had any major entries in that particular subgenre since Empire at War in 2006. Bit Reactor, a brand-new studio, will develop the game, while Respawn will produce it. There’s not much else to say about the game at this point, but it has the potential to be the least conventional of the three.
EA had mixed success with Star Wars games when it was the exclusive license holder. But Fallen Order was a superb title, and mixing up genres rather than sticking to competitive FPS could yield better results. We’ll know for sure when these games debut within the next few years.
