Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw reported via Insider Gaming Weekly that it’s been “very slow going,” with one source claiming “very little progress over months.” Another source reportedly said back in December that “The game, at this stage, is still looking to be years off from completion.”

It doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing has been made, as a “good portion” of the title is reportedly complete. But in the games industry, a scary amount of work goes into that final stretch, and Quantic Dream is allegedly lagging in that regard.

While the company reportedly discussed expanding its team, NetEase Games is apparently not interested (which would be in line with its divestment of various external studios, including Nagoshi Studio). Apparently, there’s some hope that revenue from Spellcasters Chronicles, the free-to-play competitive multiplayer that launched in Steam early access to a “Mixed” rating, will help.

“At this stage, the long-term outlook is less driven by creative capabilities and more by financial viability. Should Spellcasters fail commercially, NetEase is expected to reevaluate its commitment to the studio and could opt to discontinue further investment.” Unfortunately, with a lifetime peak of 888 concurrent players on Steam and only 86 in the past 24 hours, it seems that Spellcasters won’t be the savior that Quantic Dream is expecting.

As for Star Wars Eclipse, we’ll have to do what we’ve always done for more than four years – wait for more details. At least there’s concept art for some of the characters floating out there.

Unfortunately, Cage only provided a single line on its status. “Of course, development of Star Wars: Eclipse continues, and we are eager to share more with you in the future.” When and where remains to be seen, as usual.

The last official update from the studio was at Tokyo Game Show 2023, when Lisa Pende, Quantic Dream’s VP of marketing, said, “Can I say it still exists? Because it exists. It’s just not ready. It’s simmering.” Lead writer Adam Williams would depart the studio in 2024, and character concept art leaked earlier this year, showcasing a Rodian, Gungan, and Zenezian.

Platforms for Star Wars Eclipse have yet to be announced, so stay tuned for more updates. All we know is that it’s an action-adventure game set in the High Republic Era as players venture to the dangerous Outer Rim. Multiple characters are playable, and there’s even a branching narrative alongside a new species.

From the portfolio of one of the artists that has previously worked on Star Wars Eclipse, there are a total of 13 images. Each image comes with a filename that indicates that kind of character that the art was created for. There is concept art for a Gungan character, a Zenezian character, and a Rodian character. There are also a few pieces that have simply been titled Smuggler 1 and Smuggler 2. Interestingly, two of the concept art pieces have been named after specific characters.

The two characters, going by the concept art, are Travis and Jotraaaz Kammzzzek. The names, easily falling in line with other strange and alien-sounding names from throughout the Star Wars universe, would indicate that these two characters will play a more important role in the title’s narrative. The others, on the other hand, might be one-off NPCs that the player might get to only interact with one or two times.

It is worth noting that concept art for a game is typically created in very early stages of its development. This means that these images might also be quite updated, since games often go through many changes over the course of their development.

Quantic Dream has generally continued its silence when it comes to progress on the development of Star Wars Eclipse. However, back in February, studio CEO and head of publishing Guillaume de Fondaumière mentioned that Quantic Dream was unaffected by the studio closures that were going on at the time of various studios under NetEase. For context, NetEase announced its acquisition of Quantic Dream back in 2022.

“[Quantic president] David Cage and I would like to express our gratitude to the fans and friends who have reached out to us in recent days regarding Quantic Dream,” de Fondaumière wrote at the time. “We want to reassure everyone that our studios in Paris and Montreal remain unaffected. We are continuing to develop our projects at full pace, with several open positions available in both locations.”

Development of Star Wars Eclipse has also seemingly been a troubled one. Back in August 2024, lead writer Adam Williams had announced his departure from Quantic Dream. In his announcement, he revealed that he would be founding his own studio.

“After almost 10 years at Quantic Dream, I am leaving to found a new studio – together with a group of very talented designers and developers,” Williams wrote. “We can’t say too much just yet. We are working on something very innovative, very special and, for now, very secret. More on that soon.”

Star Wars Eclipse was announced all the way back in 2021. The game is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Star Wars Eclipse’s lead writer, Adam Williams, is leaving Quantic Dream. Spotted by The Gamer, Williams announced the new on his LinkedIn page, where he also confirmed that he’s founding an entirely new studio “with a group of very talented designers and developers” that we’ll be hearing more about “soon”.

“After almost 10 years at Quantic Dream, I am leaving to found a new studio – together with a group of very talented designers and developers,” Williams wrote. “We can’t say too much just yet. We are working on something very innovative, very special and, for now, very secret. More on that soon.

“I’ve already been in touch with many of you guys at Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm, to thank you for everything on Detroit and Eclipse. It’s been a great adventure.

“A big thank you to the team, for taking this leap with us – and to the investors, for being the ideal partners on the next adventure. More on that, also, soon.”

Williams was at Quantic Dream for nearly a decade. Joining in 2015, he worked as the lead writer on Detroit: Become Human, the same role that he was serving on Star Wars Eclipse.

Williams’ departure doesn’t necessarily give much away about how the game’s development is going – people change jobs all the time, especially in the games industry – but if past reports are to be believed, the game hasn’t been in the best of shape.

Shortly after it was announced in December 2021, it was reported that the game had been in development for roughly a year and a half at the time, but was still not in a playable state. Later reports claimed that it might not release until 2027 or 2028. Quantic Dream’s VP of Marketing Lisa Pendse provided a brief update on the project last September, stating that though it wasn’t ready to be shown off, it was “simmering” behind-the-scenes.

Announced in 2021 at The Game Awards, Quantic Dream’s action-adventure title was rumored to have faced development issues. While the developer insisted it wasn’t delayed, since no release window was announced, it was recently rumored to release as late as 2026, with the potential for further delays. So, what’s going on?

Speaking to IGN at Tokyo Game Show 2023, Quantic Dream VP of Marketing Lisa Pendse confirmed it “exists.” “Can I say it still exists? Because it exists. It’s just not ready. It’s simmering.”

It doesn’t sound like much, but Pendse further noted, “One of the big focuses we’ve had when we announced Star Wars Eclipse was to make sure it was clear that this is an action-adventure game that has all of the elements that you would come to expect and want from a Quantic Dream title, which is intricately branching narratives, multiple playable characters.

“There’s no game over. Anyone can die, anything can happen, and the story sort of continues so that those signatures are still there. But what we’ve been doing is even more ramping up our expertise in the gameplay arena.”

While there’s still no release window, Pendse says that working with NetEase (which acquired Quantic Dream in 2022) means not having release dates imposed on the team. “Quantic Dream has always released games when they’re ready, and I think the high level of quality you get when you buy a Quantic Dream game is a testament to the value of that approach.

“And it’s the same thing with Star Wars Eclipse. So you will know, but it’s too early right now to give any update on it.”

Though rumors claimed a likely release in 2027-2028, sources speaking to Insider Gaming – which also reported on NetEase acquiring Quantic Dream – revealed that it’s targeting a 2026 release. However, it could be further out. The studio reportedly continues to have issues with hiring due to allegations of workplace abuse.

The project’s scope could also mean it’s pushed further than 2026. As always, time will tell, but as Quantic Dream noted last year, there have been no delays since a launch window was never officially announced. A spokesperson also said that recruiting “remains active” as the studio “works on Star Wars Eclipse, third-party publishing, and unannounced projects.” Platforms for the title still haven’t been announced.

Now, however, new details on it seem to have emerged, thanks to a leak originating from the Sacred Symbols podcast (via VGC). As per the leak, Star Wars Eclipse, which is set in the High Republic era (roughly 200 years before The Phantom Menace), will introduce a completely new race to the Star Wars universe. Called the Zaraan, the human-like race prides itself on its military and political might, and has built a powerful empire.

The protagonist is allegedly Sarah, a Zaraan woman in her thirties. Though the Zaraan become one unit that govern together upon marriage, Sarah’s partner Xendo is a much “softer touch” than Sarah herself, who adopts a much more fanatical and hardline stance. The relationship between these two characters and their conflicting ideologies will allegedly be an important of the story.

The report also claims that David Cage and Adam Williams are co-writing the game, though interesting, the title itself isn’t even in proper production yet. Previous reports have indicated that the game is facing multiple development issues, Quantic Dream’s troublesome engine being chief among them, and is, as such, still several years away from launch.

Journalist Tom Henderson has corroborated the details of the leak on Insider-Gaming. Interestingly, Henderson also states that this is a “controlled leak” by Quantic Dream itself, with the studio hoping to gauge community reactions.

In addition to Star Wars Eclipse, a source revealed two other projects in development. There’s the mobile game Spellcaster (developed in collaboration with NetEase, which is rumored to be acquiring the developer) and Dreamland, a medieval fantasy title that’s apparently cross-gen. Right now, the latter is looking the most likely. While Star Wars Eclipse may also be present, it was suggested that the title is still “years away (at least 2025).”

Time will tell, but if it doesn’t appear at today’s showcase, we may not even hear of the new title’s presentation until much later. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Kicking things off with the Star Wars game that was most recently unveiled, and is perhaps the closest to launch- that we will get a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was never really in doubt. Within months of the original game’s launch, EA was calling it the first in a new franchise, and looking at the critical and commercial success it enjoyed, it wasn’t hard to understand why. Recently at Star Wars Celebration, Disney, Lucasfilm Games, EA, and Respawn Entertainment officially unveiled the sequel as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, setting a 2023 launch window for it (which, according to leaks, will soon be narrowed down to Q1 of 2023), and confirming that it won’t be cross-gen, and will launch only for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Beyond that, a few other brief details have also been unveiled. Protagonist Cal Kestis and his buddy droid BD-1 will, of course, be returning, and will still be in hiding as the Empire and the Inquisition continue their efforts to hunt down all Jedi. The game’s teaser trailer has suggested that the Grand Inquisitor – who was a shadowy, unseen presence throughout Fallen Order – will have a more prominent role to play, and sure enough, returning director Stig Asmussen has said that the sequel is going to have a darker tone than its predecessor. Meanwhile, Asmussen also says that thanks to the more powerful hardware of the new consoles, Jedi: Survivor will feature real-time lighting, ray tracing, faster load times, and more dynamic combat. More details on the game will supposedly be shared later in the year.

RESPAWN’S STAR WARS FPS

Earlier this year, EA confirmed that Respawn Entertainment has not one, but three Star Wars games in the works. One of these is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which we’ve already spoken about, and one of the other two is a first person shooter. Right now, very little is known about this game, other than the fact that it’s being directed by Peter Hirschmann.

Hirschmann, of course, has been directly involved in the development of a number of Star Wars games in the past, including the likes of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and original Star Wars: Battlefront in 2005. More recently, he was also the director of Respawn’s VR exclusive Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Hirschmann has said that the Star Wars FPS is “a story I have always wanted to tell”, so we can probably assume it’ll be a story-driven title (or at least a good chunk of it will be)- but again, beyond that, details on the game are scant. Given Respawn’s track record with both Star Wars and shooters, however, there’s every reason to keep an eye on this one.

RESPAWN AND BIT REACTOR’S STAR WARS STRATEGY GAME

The third Star Wars game that was confirmed to be in the works at Respawn Entertainment earlier this year is perhaps the most curious of the lot (or so many would argue, at any rate). Technically, Respawn Entertainment, in spite of being involved with the project, is not leading development on it. That responsibility lies with Bit Reactor, a newly founded studio led by co-founder and CEO Greg Foertsch along with other former Firaxis Games lead developers who worked on XCOM.

Bit Reactor says its mission is “to usher in the future of turn-based tactics games”, so it’s safe to assume that the Star Wars game the studio is working on is going to be a turn-based strategy game a la XCOM. Beyond that, there isn’t much else that we can say about the game right now- but the idea of a turn-based tactics title set in the Star Wars universe is certainly an intriguing one.

STAR WARS ECLIPSE

Star Wars Eclipse, developed by Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream, was announced in December last year at The Game Awards, though at this point in time, it’s safe to assume that the game is years away from releasing. Official communication from Quantic Dream itself has been as good as non-existent since the game’s announcement, but multiple leaks from credible sources have claimed that the developer is having more than a few issues with the game’s development, ranging from technical troubles and issues with its engine to difficulties in recruiting people to work on the project. Reportedly, we might not see the game until as late as 2027 or 2028– which is so far ahead in the future, it almost isn’t even worth thinking about right now.

Given how far away the game seems to be from releasing, details on what it is and will end up being are far from nailed down, and again, officially, Quantic Dream hasn’t said much, other than the fact that it’ll be set in the Outer Rim during the High Republic era (roughly three hundred years before the events of the prequel trilogy), and that it’ll have multiple playable characters and a branching narrative, which is par for the course for this studio. But leaks have revealed some interesting potential details. Unlike Quantic Dream’s past games, Star Wars Eclipse will allegedly be a full-fledged action-adventure game set in an open world environment, and will also have some multiplayer elements. How long it will be before more details emerge remains to be seen, but that’ll obviously depend on how quickly and efficiently Quantic Dream can sort out its many internal issues.

STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC – REMAKE

For many Star Wars fans, this is probably the single most exciting Star Wars game in development right now, and for good reason. BioWare’s original Knights of the Old Republic is not only one of the studio’s greatest games of all time, it’s also one of the best RPGs ever made, and it tells what is to this day one of the most captivating Star Wars stories ever told. That’s a massive legacy, and the idea of a remake that does justice to that is an extremely exciting one. Of course, doing so will be no easy task, but if developer Aspyr Media – who have supposedly brought on a number of people who worked on the original to work on the remake as well – can live up to expectations, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake will end up being a huge hit.

What do we know about the game right now though? Not much, unfortunately. It’s still in the early stages of development, and Saber Interactive is aiding with its development. Some voice actors from the original game will be reprising their roles in the remake, including Jennifer Hale as Bastila Shan. Meanwhile, according to some rumours, the remake will feature action-based combat similar to God of War and Nioh, as opposed to the turn-based system of the original. Finally, it’s been officially confirmed that whenever the game launches, it’ll launch exclusively for PC and PS5 as a timed console exclusive for PlayStation.

SKYDANCE NEW MEDIA’S STAR WARS GAME

Amy Hennig-led Skydance New Media has confirmed in the last few months that it’s working on two Disney-owned licenses for AAA games, with one being a Marvel title and the other being a Star Wars game. At this point, we know almost nothing about it, other than the fact that it will be, in Hennig’s words, a “richly cinematic” game. What era will it be set in? What genre will the game tackle? Will it be a purely single player experience? It’s hard to say at this point- but given Hennig’s pedigree, it’s safe to assume, at the very least, that it’ll be a single player-focused game.

Of course, Hennig has some experience with the Star Wars license. At one point, she was leading a team at Dead Space studio Visceral Games on the infamous Project Ragtag, a story-driven action-adventure title that got cancelled shortly before Visceral was shut down in its entirety. Prominent leaker AccountNgt has claimed that this new game will be set in the Rebel Alliance Era (a.k.a. the original trilogy era), and that it’ll make use of some elements of Project Ragtag. That said, the project is presumably in the very early stages of production right now, so it’s hard to be too sure about anything at this stage.

UBISOFT MASSIVE’S STAR WARS GAME

We’ve known about this game longer than any other game we’ve spoken about so far, and yet we don’t have too many details on it. Developed by The Division studio Massive Entertainment on the Snowdrop Engine, the unnamed Star Wars title is confirmed to be an open world story-driven title- though given the studio’s pedigree and track record, one would assume that it’ll have at least some multiplayer elements. Whether or not that assumption turns out to be correct remains to be seen. Director Julian Gerighty has described it as being completely different from The Division, so it could go either way based on what we know right now.

And when might we get more concrete details on the game? Honestly, it’ll probably be a while. Shortly after the game was confirmed to be in development, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that it was at an early stage of production, while recently, insider Tom Henderson claimed that the game would probably launch sometime in 2025. Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that Massive Entertainment is currently busy with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which is due out sometime before April 2023. Presumably, once that is out, the developer will turn its full attention to Star Wars.

Starfield

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first. Bethesda Softworks’ upcoming Starfield is easily one of the most highly anticipated games right now. The game has recently received a lot of new details and Bethesda has done a fabulous job with its NASA-Punk designs. Starfield releases for Xbox Series X/S and PC in the first half of 2023.