Don’t Mourn the Cancelled Mandalorian Video Game
The Jedi reign supreme over Star Wars gaming.
Star Wars may be most famous for its movies, but beloved video games like Battlefront and Knights of the Old Republic have brought significant elements of the franchise to life. And while games are often seen as supplementary adventures, the recent success of Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor has put a new emphasis on storytelling in Star Wars games. Now, a major shakeup on the franchise’s gaming side could signal where gaming in this faraway galaxy will head next.
According to IGN, EA Games recently announced it would reduce its workforce by 5% and cancel a Star Wars first-person shooter from Respawn Entertainment, which was understood to be a Mandalorian-inspired bounty hunter game. Instead, Respawn will focus on a third Jedi game to continue the success of Fallen Order and Survivor. While the FPS game would have presumedly been set in the Mandoverse’s New Republic era, which is currently being explored in the majority of Disney’s TV series, the Jedi series is set at the height of the Empire’s power, about nine years before the original trilogy.
Respawn will focus on a third Jedi game instead of a first-person shooter.
Some of these upheavals may have to do with broader shifts in the gaming industry, but it also appears as though Disney wants to keep these two timelines separate. The Mandoverse and the New Republic era is the domain of Disney+, where it’s orchestrated by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. A game could throw that all off.
It’s a shame to lose a possible Star Wars FPS game, especially one that promises to let you zip around like Mando, but retreating from the Mandalorian culture and era will help the franchise continue to evolve. Dave Filoni has molded the story of the Mandoverse from the start and will direct an upcoming movie to effectively end the franchise within a franchise. Exploring it in a video game side story could undermine the creative direction put into the Disney+ universe, and make the final movie not feel as final.
A new Jedi game also feels like the surer bet for Respawn. The series has a proven track record, while a Mando-focused FPS would be a big swing with big expectations that may or may not live up to the legacy of the Star Wars shooters that came before. Making the safest choice may not be exciting, but the beleaguered gaming industry is already bleeding so many jobs that now feels like a dubious time to take risks.
While Mandoverse characters appear in the Jedi series, keeping the two worlds separate is smart.
This doesn’t rule out future crossovers. Cameron Monaghan, star of the Jedi games, could reprise his starring role as Cal Kestis in live-action, and Boba Fett had a cameo role in Jedi: Survivor. But while characters can be shared between the two timelines, it doesn’t serve the franchise’s greater scope for two projects in such a vast universe to share the exact same focus and setting. A Mando game might have been fun, but honestly, we’ve already seen a lot of him on TV. Let the gaming side of Star Wars carve out its own path.
