‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ Developer Team Is All New, According to Respawn

Respawn is currently celebrating a successful launch of their free-to-play battle royale game Apex Legends but that doesn’t mean that was the only project in the works. With Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on the horizon for this year’s holiday season, the studio is opening up a little bit about the progress the game is making and the road thus far.

Design director Mackey McCandlish sat down with VG24/7 to talk about the different ongoing projects in the works, including the highly anticipated new Star Wars game. According to the design director, the team working on Fallen Order is almost a completely new studio specifically for the Star Wars venture.

“The Titanfall team makes Apex Legends,” McCandish explained. “A very one-hand number of people runs Star Wars to help create that team. Myself and others helped interview for that team just to lend some time to help it get off the ground. But I haven’t been heavily involved – it’s off to the races for them.

“The way we approach development is a game director-first approach. Vince Zampella gets Stig Asmussen in, he’s made God of War, he starts hiring loads of people for the team,” McCandlish mentioned to the site. “Myself and others helped interview for that team just to lend some time to help it get off the ground. But I haven’t been heavily involved – it’s off to the races for them.”

Given the success that Apex Legends is already experiencing and how the studio was able to maintain their vision when pitching to EA, it’s a good indication for how the new Star Wars title will go down. McCandlish mentioned that it was a bit of a transition, though one that’s worth it “Sometimes there are opportunities where someone on a team may really be better on the other team and there may be a little bit of transition. But for the most part, they are extremely independent. We all see each other every week at one all-hands meeting.”

As for the latest free-to-play game itself, Apex Legends is now available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The team also talked a little bit about cross-play plans and what that means for progress, you can learn more about that right here with our previous coverage.

Thoughts on what Respawn has on the horizon? Excited to see their take on the Star Wars universe? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!