Star Wars is one of the biggest multi-media franchises in the world and as a result, fans are usually eager to see what new projects emerge from the canon of the series. Last year, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was released to positive sales and it showcased a want for Star Wars games with a campaign focus rather than an online model. However, this was not the first attempt at this type of game within Electronic Arts and producer Zach Mumbach has explained how another game was almost delivered a few years ago.
The game was worked on under the name Project Ragtag at Visceral Games and it seems that the game had a fair amount of groundwork in place before Electronic Arts pulled the plug on the project. Unfortunately, it appears that timing was not on the side of the development team as they had just finished working on Battlefield Hardline which had a mixed reception and lost them members of staff. Despite working on games like Dead Space, it seems that the campaign and narrative-focused team members looked for projects that suited their skillset while Hardline was in development.
This left a team that was equipped to make online games working on a campaign-based title. However, the game still seemed to have a lot of potential and internal support. Amy Hennig, who previously worked on the acclaimed campaign-based Uncharted series, was involved in the project and according to Mumbach, they had made smart narrative decisions. In terms of progress, the team behind the Star Wars game reportedly had a well fleshed out lead who was a “darker Han Solo” and “The story and the setup and the characters…[were] set up for success.” Unfortunately, it seems that a change in direction doomed this promising game.
While Zach Mumbach noted that “We would have made the best Star Wars game ever made” it seems that it would take too long to create and they claimed that executing the project “was going to take a while.” During this period, Electronic Arts did not want to invest in single-player games and Mumbach claimed that the company wanted to focus on online content. On top of that, Mumbach said that EA explicitly wanted to tap into the success of the popular battle royale genre.
With developed levels, a compelling lead character, and celebrated staff like Hennig the game could have been a huge success. The title would have likely pleased fans more than the Battlefront titles, that were criticized for the use of loot boxes, and it seems that the producer of the canceled project is as disappointed that it was never released.
