Stop Announcing Star Wars Games So Early

Developers and publishers, please stop announcing Star Wars games so early. If you’ve been into gaming for long enough, you’ve likely had your heart broken by games that never came out despite being announced. One of the most prominent examples of this is Star Wars 1313, a dark and gritty third-person action/adventure game about a bounty hunter descending through Coruscant’s criminal underworld. The first gameplay reveal looked incredible and like a nice shake-up for Star Wars games, only to be made even more exciting when it was later revealed that the protagonist was actually Boba Fett. Unfortunately, that game never came out.

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That game was announced just months prior to Disney acquiring Lucasfilm and everything Star Wars. As a result, the project was shelved and never to be seen again. This isn’t a one-off scenario, either. While the circumstances for that game’s cancellation are pretty unique, other Star Wars games have met bitter ends. Uncharted creator Amy Hennig was developing a grounded Star Wars game about a group of scoundrels. The game was announced with no title, a tiny gameplay clip, and minimal details. Eventually, after years of silence, it was quietly cancelled, much to the frustration of fans. Now, we’re seeing even more Star Wars games announced way too early.

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic‘s Early Announcement Is a Sign of a Larger Issue

During The Game Awards 2025, the show opened with a bombshell announcement. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was revealed, a new Star Wars RPG that will serve as a successor to Knights of the Old Republic, helmed by that game’s original director. It was an exciting announcement; it’s basically Knights of the Old Republic 3, something fans have wanted for decades. However, the following morning, some of that hype was deflated. Many assumed that this game was still a ways off given it was announced with a CG trailer, but no one knew quite how far away it might be.

Some folks did some digging and realized Arcanaut Studios, the team behind the new game, was founded in July 2025. That means work has barely even begun on this game because they probably don’t even have many employees yet. Some began to speculate that the game would release in 2030, but director Casey Hudson claimed that Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic would release before 2030. Do I believe him? Kind of, only under the assumption that it is still releasing right on the edge of 2030. Even if that’s the plan, late 2029 seems like the most viable release window, but we’ve seen how easily games can be delayed across years, meaning it could easily come out in the next decade.

Either way, it’s evident that this game is years away. The announcement also comes four years after two other major Star Wars game announcements. In 2021, Star Wars: Eclipse and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake were both announced. Since then, we’ve had very minimal updates on either project. The latter changed its developer and the former has been quietly in the works since its reveal, with developer Quantic Dream coming out of the woodwork every now and then to reaffirm they’re still working on Star Wars: Eclipse.

The only two big AAA Star Wars games this generation that have been announced and come out in a reasonable time frame are Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Star Wars Outlaws. These other teams have been announcing things way too early and getting people’s hopes up. Not only are we stuck waiting, but we may be stuck waiting for things that never come out, as evidenced by past game cancellations. One of the reasons this happens is partially because these studios, namely Arcanaut Studios, are probably trying to drive recruitment.

By announcing that they have a major Star Wars game in the works, it excites talented developers to come join them and work on the game. However, Respawn Entertainment has shown that you can announce a Star Wars game without making a big spectacle. Respawn confirmed it is working on the next Star Wars Jedi game through simple text posts. No fanfare required, just a confirmation that it is happening.

However, just as notably, Respawn also quietly confirmed online that it was working on a FPS Star Wars game earlier this generation. It still drums up some attention, but because no one knows much about it, no one sets absurdly high expectations and it doesn’t sit in their mind for too long. Respawn ended up cancelling that FPS Star Wars game and although it was a bit disappointing to hear a talented first-person shooter team was scrapping something like that, it was pretty easy for fans to move on from it.

It will probably be years before we see Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic again. Anytime there’s a Summer Game Fest, PlayStation State of Play, or The Game Awards-type event from now on, you’ll see people spamming it in the Twitch chat or on social media. People will ask what happened to that game. We’ll probably write articles pondering over its existence. It’s not good for anyone, really. It’s just annoying, and it would be nice if we could wait until the game is at most two years away before announcing something like that. Will that happen, though? Probably not.

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