Remember Star Wars 1313? Of course you do; it single-handedly stole the show at E3 2012, only to be canceled the following year when Disney ceased development of all LucasArts projects – 1313 included.
The game itself was said to be much more mature in its style and tone, and would chronicle Boba Fett’s early years attempting to make ends meet within the underbelly of Coruscant. Sadly, 1313 never escaped development limbo, and it appears that EA has now sentenced its open world Star Wars game to a similar fate.
Rumored to be titled Orca, Kotaku has revealed that the doomed project involved “playing as a scoundrel or bounty hunter who could explore various open-world planets and work with different factions across the Star Wars universe.” On paper, it sounds like a video game good enough to fill the void left by Star Wars 1313, though sadly, it too will be joining LucasArts’ project in the pixelated graveyard.
Why, exactly? Well, sources close to Kotaku suggest that the Powers That Be over at EA hoped to fast-track a Star Wars project for late 2020 – in and around the same timeframe as the next-gen consoles. Orca, on the other hand, was much more ambitious in its scope, and likely would’ve remained in development until at least 2021. And so, EA brought the hammer down, cancelling Vancouver’s open world project and doubling down on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn Entertainment, the same studio responsible for the Titanfall franchise.
It’s still in a state of flux, but if EA is gunning for a new Star Wars title to be released by next Christmas, then it seems the onus has now been placed on Jedi: Fallen Order. No pressure, then.