Next Lego Star Wars Game Is In Trouble
Lego Star Wars is looking like it's got some issues.
This article is more than 2 years old
The release date for TT Games’s highly-anticipated Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was just pushed back indefinitely from its original Spring 2021 release — a year after COVID-19 brought the world’s economy to its knees. It’s set to come out on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC.
There’s nothing the Force can’t do — or so they say. Star Wars canon has long established its numerous perks, anything from encouraging calm and moving mountains to sensing spatial imbalance and extinguishing life from a single intention. In the real world, it seems equally unmatched, even against the perils of COVID-19. While the virus paralyzed businesses the world over, Lucasfilm persisted. The Mandalorian delivered a promising Season 2. Charles Soule’s Star Wars comic book briefly stalled, only to persevere after a month. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order came out late 2019, but ended up outselling any other Star Wars game during the pandemic. Disney revealed several more spinoffs already in development at Lucasfilm. And yet, no franchise is immune to production delays and Lego Star Wars is proof of that.
The announcement was made on the company’s Twitter account only a few days ago. It reads: “All of us at TT Games are working hard to make Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga the biggest and best-ever Lego game — but we’re going to need more time to do it. We won’t be able to make our intended Spring release date, but will provide updated launch timing as soon as possible.” The post declined to elaborate further. No specific reasons behind the delay were given. It’s unclear whether the pandemic is involved, if it’s to blame at all.
The Skywalker Saga was announced way back in 2019 during Microsoft’s Xbox briefing at E3. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, The LEGO Group, and Lucasfilm joined TT Games in unveiling the franchise’s newest brick offering, which is set to break records left and right with its signature sense of humor and improved gameplay features. Tom Stone, managing director of TT Games, expounds: “Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga marks our return to the franchise that kicked off the LEGO video game series. The game will give fans an all-new LEGO Star Wars experience with complete freedom to explore the LEGO Star Wars galaxy.”
And complete freedom it is. The Skywalker Saga allows players to start the game at any point in the Star Wars timeline, whether as part of the original trilogy, the prequels, or the newer ones starring Rey and Kylo Ren. Previous LEGO iterations were strictly chronological. Douglas Reilly, Vice President of Lucasfilm Games adds: “With the Skywalker saga coming to an end, we wanted to give fans the ultimate Star Wars video game experience with all the humor and charm that is uniquely LEGO. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will bring to life all those Star Wars adventures remembered and undiscovered in an epic culmination of all nine saga films as fans celebrate the closing of this chapter in Star Wars.”
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is also the first LEGO video game to feature voice acting. Previous games had characters mumbling vaguely along like avatars from The Sims, but The Skywalker Saga promises to change all that, with the hugely popular LEGO films serving as precedent. Sean McEvoy, Vice President of The LEGO Group’s Digital Games division, closes off the E3 announcement by saying, “Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga contains a massive amount of content and is an accessible entry point to the Star Wars galaxy, featuring all of the fun and unforgettable gameplay that makes LEGO games appealing to audiences of all ages.”
The Skywalker Saga is the sixth entry in the LEGO Star Wars franchise. The series began all the way in 2005 with Lego Star Wars: The Video Game (also by TT Games) and chronicled events from The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and A New Hope. It quickly became the 13th bestselling game of 2005. The LEGO version of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was the last title to be released under the same banner. It came out in 2016.
