In the span of a week,Star Warsfans have been spoiled to death with high-quality content that includes the newDisney Plus live-action TV show,The Mandalorian, andStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a new single-playerStar Warsgame from Respawn Entertainment. However, that wasn’t the case once upon a time, and fans were begging for anything new to come from the franchise, particularly in the video game space.
Prior to Disney’s acquisition,Star Warsvideo games were all developed in house at LucasArts with credits that includeStar Wars: Jedi Knight IIwhich recently came to Nintendo Switch, andThe Force Unleashed. To the dismay of fans all around the world, one game that never saw the light of day wasStar Wars 1313, a standalone action-adventure game starring Boba Fett. Could the success of a new single-playerStar Warsgame and a new show about Mandalorians mean that it’s time to revisit1313?
RELATED:Fortnite x Star Wars Crossover: Here’s What Happens When You Reach the Star Destroyer
Originally announced during E3 2012,Star Wars1313was an action-adventure game that followed the bounty hunter Boba Fett between the prequel and original trilogies, following the death of his father Jango Fett inStar Wars: Attack of the Clones. Named after the setting rather than the protagonist,Star Wars 1313was set on a new location on the city-covered plant Coruscant, called Level 1313; a subterranean metropolis that’s home to the criminal underworld.
Unfortunately, excitement forStar Wars 1313was short-lived when the project was canceled indefinitely in April 2013, roughly 10 months after its official announcement. Disney announced plans to buy Lucasfilm in October 2012 for $4.05 billion following George Lucas' retirement from blockbuster filmmaking. A little further down the road, this led to the announcement of a newStar Warstrilogy and narrative canon, the closure of LucasArts, and the cancellation of all existing projects includingStar Wars 1313. The trademark was abandoned the following year, and while President of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy commented on the possible return of the project in December 2015, that never came to fruition.
WhenStar Wars 1313was first announced, the protagonist was known to be a bounty hunter but at the time hadn’t been named asthebounty hunter Boba Fett; that came later. Considering the popularity of Boba Fett, it’s easy to speculate that the character wasn’t always part of the plan and was later changed as part fan-service, part smart business practice, like theFortnite/Star Wars crossover, is doing right now. After all, the character sells. Disney’s new live-action series, The Mandalorian, is in a similar boat, capitalizing on the popularity of Boba Fett by building the show’s story and protagonist around the bounty hunter’s iconic look.
Neither of theStar Wars: Battlefrontgames were received particularly well, despite selling millions of copies, with one of the biggest criticisms coming down to single-player content. The first game didn’t have a single-player campaign mode at all, while the second was criticized heavily due to false-advertising in its story and forced hero characters like the chapter where Luke Skywalker fights bugs for 15-minutes. Part of the reasonStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderis being praisedright now is down to the fact that fans of the series are craving new single-player stories in the video game medium. The demand is at an all-time high.
RELATED:Artist Creates Incredible Mashup of The Mandalorian and Death Stranding
When it comes to the AAA video game industry, EA has done very little with theStar Warsfranchise sincesigning a multi-year dealfor the exclusive publishing rights back in 2013. To date, only three games have been released including the reboot ofStar Wars: Battlefrontin 2015, the 2017 sequelStar Wars: Battlefront 2, and Respawn Entertainment’sStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderwhich released last week. Outside of those three, twoStar Warsgames were in development atDead Spacedeveloper, Visceral Games, both of which were canceled, leading to the closure of the studio.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderis a huge step in the right direction to winning back fan’s trust and for EA to prove that it can and will do right by the franchise after so many wrongs. Now,withStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerless than a month awayand a new show on Disney Plus that just so happens to be about Boba Fett’s race, the Mandalorians, theStar Warsfranchise is back in full swing. It seems like a perfect time to take a once canceled project that the industry was incredibly excited about and resurrect the project under a new developer, giving them free rein to create something special or at least make a cool game about Bounty Hunters.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderis available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
MORE:Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - What Could The Rise of Skywalker Content Be?
