News out of Ubisoft's latest earnings call was pretty rosy for the gaming company's record-setting quarter, but not so much for fans who are looking forward to their untitled Star Wars game.
It was announced just under a month ago that Lucasfilm and Ubisoft would be collaborating on an open-world game set squarely within the vast and seemingly timeless Star Wars universe. Few other details were available then or now, except to say that Ubisoft's studio Massive Entertainment (The Division franchise, The Avatar Project) would be developing the game using their existing Snowdrop engine. That's all the same; the difference now is that we know we'll likely be waiting a long, long time before getting our hands on whatever this open-world game ends up being.
During the earnings call, captured in part by CNBC and many other news outlets, Ubisoft confirmed they are in "early stages" of development on the game. But they also mentioned that Massive Entertainment's ongoing work on The Avatar Project, the game adaptation of James Cameron's Avatar franchise, would be arriving before the new Star Wars game. With only shaky release dates to go on for the often-delayed Avatar sequels, which one imagines Cameron et al would want to coincide with the release of the game, Star Wars fans will be waiting some time for this one. Avatar 2 - 5 are supposed to release over the course of the 2020s, with Avatar 2 arriving December 16, 2022 and Avatar 5 arriving in the far-off, futuristic, jetpack-friendly 2028. Expect the new Star Wars game to be cradled in there somewhere, meaning you should not expect to see anything at all for at least a few years. Patience is a virtue, I suppose.
Last month, Lucasfilm Games VP Douglas Reilly shared a bit about the plans for the new game and for the broader picture of the rebranded studio during the previous announcement:
“We’ve got a lot of stuff we’re ready to start sharing with fans, because we’ve been working quietly behind the scenes for a while now, waiting for this moment.”
“We’re really excited about an opportunity to work with the team at Massive, led by David Polfeldt and the creative director, Julian Gerighty. We’ve spent almost a year now, working to get to know them and what they want to bring to the table. I’m a huge fan of them, personally. I think we’re really excited about where that project is going, because they have a unique vision for the story and the game they want to deliver.”
Sweden's Massive Entertainment also teased a bit about their highly anticipated project on their own blog:
In January 2021, it was announced that we are collaborating with Disney and Lucasfilm Games on a new story-driven open-world video game set in the Star Wars galaxy. Headed by Massive Entertainment, the project gathers some of the most experienced talents in the video game industry and will make the most of our innovative spirit and cutting-edge technologies, including the Snowdrop engine, to deliver a groundbreaking Star Wars adventure.