Written by Edwin Francisco • Staff Writer
Lucasfilm and Disney have been very busy for the past week. On January 11, 2021, they announced that all the games under Star Wars will now be called Lucasfilm Games.
Lucasfilm Games was Lucasfilm’s original name for their own in house game development group since 1982. The name itself was rebranded to LucasArts in 1990. The new Lucasfilm Games is basically a licensor now. This allows more developers to make games under the Lucasfilm brand, not limited to Star Wars.
Here’s the sizzle reel they used to announce that all the games under Star Wars will now be called Lucasfilm Games, as well as their official description:
Celebrate Lucasfilm’s rich legacy in games, as we enter an exciting new era of storytelling in Star Wars and beyond.
The very next day, on January 12th, Bethesda suddenly announced on Twitter that MachineGames will be developing an Indiana Jones game for Lucasfilm Games. MachineGames is well known for the latest Wolfenstien games (Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wolfenstein: Youngblood).
The only information given so far is that Todd Howard (known for directing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and producer of Fallout 4) will be the executive producer for the new project. We have no news which platforms the game will be developed for or if the new game will be an Xbox exclusive – since Bethesda is under Microsoft’s list of game developers.
— Bethesda (@bethesda) January 12, 2021
On the following day, Ubisoft announces that Massive Entertainment (developer of The Division) will be developing an open world Star Wars game for Lucasfilm Games.
Again, the details are vague. All we know at the moment is that they will be using Massive’s Snowdrop Engine which was used on The Division, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Southpark: The Fractured But Whole, and Starlink: Battle for Atlas).
The project will be led by David Polfeldt, known for The Division, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Far Cry 3. Julian Gerighty (known for producing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and directing The Crew and The Division 2) will be the creative director for the new game. No details which platforms they plan to release.
We are excited to announce we are working with @LucasfilmGames to develop a brand-new, story-driven, open world Star Wars adventure! pic.twitter.com/IcwIfVs6gy
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) January 13, 2021
The new Star Wars game from Ubisoft is a surprise since it immediately means that EA lost its exclusivity deal with what is now Lucasfilm Games. This started in 2013 during the time when Disney restructured LucasArts.
However, this doesn’t mean that EA will stop making Star Wars games. The Battlefront II series, Jedi Fallen Order, The Old Republic and Squadrons are all successful games under EA (even though Battlefront II had a rocky start). The official Star Wars website even confirmed that EA will “play a big role in the future of Star Wars gaming”.
All the new games are exciting to hear, and the development teams are impressively good too. Lucasfilm Games is firing on all cylinders this time. It’s possible that we may hear more announcements soon. This is an exciting time if you are a fan of Lucasfilm or LucasArts games.
