Lucasfilm has teamed up with Skydance New Media, a studio led by Amy Hennig, the brilliant mind behind the Uncharted series, to release a brand-new action-adventure Star Wars game!
A collaboration between Lucasfilm Games and Skydance New Media has been announced today, April 19th,2022. The two companies will join forces to develop and produce a narrative-driven Star Wars action-adventure game featuring a new original story.
Narrative-driven games are heavily focused on the story. The player is in total control of the exploration and how he/she wants to solve a problem. These types of games are packed with mystery, adventure, intricate characters and deep stories with more than a couple of characters involved. Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Chrono Trigger & Uncharted are perfect examples. Speaking of Uncharted, let’s talk about the people in charge of this new game.
What is Skydance New Media
Skydance Media is a production company that specializes in film, animation, videogames & television. They are responsible for films including World War Z, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Terminator: Dark Fate, Jack Reacher and many more.
In 2019, Skydance New Media was founded. Led by Amy Hennig and Julian Beak, this videogame development studio was created to tell story-driven interactive experiences. By joining efforts with different IP partners, the future of this studio looks very promising.
Star Wars is their second announced project in collaboration with Disney, a Marvel title is already in development by the studio. The games Skydance have released before and after New Media founding are Archangel, PWND & The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
Amy Hennig, President of New Media Division at Skydance Media is a veteran artist, animator, writer, director, and game designer with over 30-years of experience in the gaming industry. She has worked at companies like Naughty Dog, Crystal Dynamics, Electronic Arts, and Sony Computer Entertainment.
“I’ve often described how seeing Star Wars in 1977 essentially rewired my 12-year-old brain, shaping my creative life and future indelibly,”
She’s well known for being the creative director & writer for the critically acclaimed Uncharted games. Hennig gives priority to creative expression over graphic performance. She often uses secondary characters to emphasize the traits of other characters as the story progresses. Amy Hennig received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Wards in March 2019.
Julian Beak is another veteran of the entertainment industry. His current role in New Division at Skydance Media is Executive Vice President & General Manager. Beak has worked at big franchises like Battlefield & Need for Speed.
Julian Beak has participated as an artist, designer, software engineer, executive and producer on over 30 projects. Before Skydance Media, he worked at Radical Entertainment, Disney Interactive & United Front Games.
Can they make a great Star Wars game
In the last 10 years, Star Wars major game releases have been pretty rare. We got two Battlefront games, Star Wars: Squadrons, two LEGO titles, Jedi: Fallen Order, a cancelled Disney title and a bunch of mobile games. I’m not counting any of the Battlefront II updates or Star Wars The Old Republic expansions.
It may appear to be a decent amount, but I’m not sure they met the standards of what most fans have when it comes to a Star Wars game, at least a memorable one. I don’t mean it in a disrespectful way towards the developers or people that enjoy those games, but making a mobile game and disguising it with the Star Wars IP isn’t very appealing, at least not to me but perhaps I’m mistaken and this isn’t a popular opinion among the rest of the fans.
This new game adds to the lineup of upcoming Star Wars games, Star Wars Eclipse, Knights of the Old Republic- Remake, Star Wars: Hunters, an untitled Ubisoft Project, a sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order and an FPS.
This is day & night compared to what we got in the last decade and I’m so happy that Star Wars videogame fans are getting some love. All of these titles were announced in a two-year time-span, so I’m sure there are more that we still don’t know about.
I hope Hennig and her team at Skydance New Media are given enough time and resources to create a new title that embodies what a good Star Wars Story is. Learning about her philosophy is a fresh air in an industry where having a good story isn’t always the top priority, at least not anymore.
I can’t wait to learn more about this title and the other ones. Which one are you looking forward to?
