EA has canceled Respawn’s first-person shooter, based on Star Wars’ The Mandalorian, as part of a recent round of layoffs.
The game was first announced in January 2022, billed as an “all-new Star Wars first-person shooter game”. The production was being led by former LucasArts veteran and Medal of Honor co-creator Peter Hirschmann, who previously worked on the popular Star Wars Battlefront games, The Force Unleashed, and more.
However, EA has now announced that the Star Wars game has been canceled amid 670 company-wide layoffs, representing approximately 5% of the workforce. This comes just a few days after Sony announced widespread layoffs at PlayStation, highlighting the wider issue in the industry.
It doesn’t mean the end of Star Wars games, however; instead, Respawn will focus on the Jedi and Apex Legends series.
“As we’ve looked at Respawn’s portfolio over the last few months, what’s clear is the games our players are most excited about are Jedi and Respawn’s rich library of owned brands,” said EA Entertainment president Laura Miele in a statement published on Wednesday (Feb 28).
“Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS Action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games.
“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. Giving fans the next installments of the iconic franchises they want is the definition of blockbuster storytelling and the right place to focus.”
The future of Star Wars games
It seems likely that we can expect a third Star Wars Jedi game, with actor Cameron Monaghan hinting during Ocala Comic Con that he was “working on a third” entry in the ever-popular series, as shown in this video from YouTuber in attendance Saix_XIII.
This was closely followed by the director of the two previous games, Stig Asmussen, revealing that he was leaving Respawn. However, Asmussen had said previously that he had also envisaged the games following a three-title arc, so the developer may be sticking with this plan.
Featured image: Disney+
