Star Wars video game reportedly cancelled amid industry-wide layoffs

Video game publisher EA has reportedly cancelled Respawn’s Star Wars first-person shooter as part of sweeping cuts to its workforce.

IGN reports that EA CEO Andrew Wilson has announced cuts to around 5% of its total global staff, which works out to around 670 people. In tandem with those layoffs, Respawn Entertainment’s in-development Star Wars first-person shooter has apparently been cancelled altogether, ostensibly to allow the studio’s remaining staff to focus on a sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor.

“It’s always hard to walk away from a project, and this decision is not a reflection of the team’s talent, tenacity, or passion they have for the game,” EA Entertainment President Laura Miele wrote in a memo to staff (according to IGN). “Giving fans the next instalments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”

While little was known about the title beyond its status as a first-person shooter said to be helmed by Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond director Peter Hirschmann, it was believed to feature a Mandalorian protagonist (though not necessarily the Mandalorian of Disney+ fame). IGN reports that the team working on the FPS will be reassigned to projects including Apex Legends, Iron Man, Black Panther and the third instalment in the Star Wars: Jedi series.

EA’s exclusivity agreement with Lucasfilm for Star Wars games expired in 2023, at which point Respawn was developing three titles from a galaxy far, far away: the next Jedi game, this now-cancelled FPS and a new strategy game led by XCOM art director Greg Foertsch (in collaboration with his studio Bit Reactor). The status of the latter production is an unknown quantity at this stage.

The news comes amid industry-wide layoffs, with publishers and developers including Sony and Microsoft also announcing mass cuts. Kotaku reports that more than 8,000 staff have already been affected in the first two months of 2024 alone. EA’s cuts come hot on the heels of 7% growth in net bookings year-on-year for the financial quarter ending December 2023 – a period that saw the publisher pull in net revenue of $1.945 billion.

Given the LEGO Star Wars team is typically slow to react to video games – Battlefront II and Jedi: Fallen Order sets arrived years after the titles bowed on consoles – the theme is unlikely to suffer for a future project getting the can. Not least because there’s arguably already too much for the LEGO Group to tackle between TV shows and upcoming movies alone, and we’re already getting plenty of Mandalorian-themed content anyway.

The next LEGO Star Wars video game tie-in is rumoured to be the addition of Star Wars: Jedi protagonist Cal Kestis to the 25th-anniversary minifigure range. He’s said to be included in a Death Star playset launching this summer.

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