Summary
One of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet,Star Warshas existed for almost five whole decades now, and in that time, fans have seen countless projects from the multimedia franchise, ranging from spinoff movies to TV shows to animated specials to novels to comics and just about everything in between. But while most of these spinoff projects have their dedicated fans, few have managed to gain quite as much attention over the years asStar Wars' vast collection of video games.
Star Warshas experimented with countless different video game genres over the years and while not all projects struck gold, the ones that did are still being talked about all these years later. But foreveryStar Warsvideo game projectthat made it to release, there’s another one that was thrown down the garbage compactor, and more often than not, these projects have contained some genuinely great ideas—great ideas that may now never see the light of day.
Star Wars Has a Long History of Great Failed Ideas
Star Wars Canceled a Darth Maul Game
Tentatively titled “Battle of the Sith Lords,” Red Fly Studio was working on aDarth Maul-ledStar Warsgameback in the early 2010s before it was unceremoniously canceled. Intended to be a more matureStar Warsgame,Battle of the Sith Lordswas going to feature decapitation and dismemberment, with the gameplay focusing on more realistic lightsaber combat.
Though a narrative was never set in stone for the game, George Lucas reportedly asked Red Fly if Darth Talon - a Sith who lived almost 180 years after Maul’s first appearance - could appear in the game as well, forcing Red Fly to use a descendant of Maul as the main protagonist.Battle of the Sith Lordswas eventually canceled during its prototyping phase in June 2011, withDisney’s acquisition of Lucasfilmbeing cited as the main cause by developers.
Star Wars Battlefront 3 Met a Tragic End
Possibly one of the most infamousStar Warsvideo game cancelations,Star Wars Battlefront 3originally entered production in 2006, with Free Radical Design set to develop the game. Despite making quite a lot of progress on the sequel,Star Wars Battlefront 3was eventually canceled in October 2008. Though the exact reason for the cancelation is still a major point of speculation, former LucasArts employees have mentioned Free Radical’s missing production milestones as a key factor, along with the rough critical reception ofFree Radical’s FPSHaze, though ex-Free Radical devs have argued against these factors.
Another unfortunately memorable cancelation,Star Wars 1313may have looked like a fairly genericUnchartedclone during its initial reveals, but it hid so much potential behind that facade. Though it wouldn’t be revealed until later on in the game,Star Wars 1313would revolve around a young Boba Fettas they try to blast their way through Coruscant’s underworld. Unfortunately,Star Wars 1313was another victim of Disney’s Lucasfilm acquisition, being officially canceled in April 2013.
Star Wars has also canceled a number of sequels to popular franchises, ranging from a secondRepublic Commandogame to a thirdForce Unleashedinstallment to anotherJedi Knightentry.
Star Wars Continues to Cancel its Best Ideas
Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic Remake Is Hanging on by a Thread
A much more recent, yet just as infamous unfortunateStar Warstale,Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicRemakeis in an extremely precarious situation. Officially revealed in 2021,theStar Wars: KOTORremakehas received no official updates since, though a slew of leaks and reports have claimed that the game is in serious trouble, with its original developer losing some senior staff members following some internal reviews of the game and Saber Interactive forced to take over development.
Respawn’s Star Wars FPS Was The Most Recent Victim
Just the latest in a long line of disappointingStar Warscancelations,Respawn’s upcomingStar Warsfirst-person shooterproject has been officially canceled by EA. Heavily rumored to be a game revolving around Mandalorians, this is yet another excellent video game idea thatStar Warsseems to be wasting, and unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
WHERE TO PLAY
Choose Your Path.It is four thousand years before the Galactic Empire and hundreds of Jedi Knights have fallen in battle against the ruthless Sith. You are the last hope of the Jedi Order. Can you master the awesome power of the Force on your quest to save the Republic? Or will you fall to the lure of the dark side? Hero or villain, saviour or conqueror… you alone will determine the destiny of the entire galaxy!A brand new Star Wars role-playing experience with unique characters, creatures, vehicles and planets.Learn to use the Force with over 40 different powers and build your own lightsaber.Adventure through some of the most popular Star Wars locations, including Tatooine and the Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk.Choose your party from nine customisable characters, including Twi’leks, droids and Wookiees.Travel to eight enormous worlds in your own starship, the Ebon Hawk.
