Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Was Almost About Bounty Hunters, Not Jedi
Respawn Entertainment had quite the long and arduous development road with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The studio likely had to contend with a not insignificant amount of pushback and meddling from both EA and Disney, the latter of which had plenty of doubts about the success rate of the entire endeavor. As such, it comes to little surprise that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was nearly about bounty hunters, not Jedi.
In a recent discussion over on the AIAS Game Maker’s podcast as reported by PC Gamer, game director Stig Asmussen revealed that there was so much initial pushback regarding his team’s pitch that the game nearly ended up more like the cancelled Star Wars 1313, which, while that wouldn’t have been a bad thing, it wasn’t what the team wanted to do with a Star Wars game. “I pitched, ‘Hey what if we do a game about Jedi and Force powers,'” Asmussen said in the podcast.
They were not super comfortable with that. They threw it back, ‘What about blasters or bounty hunters?'”
“That’s not the background of the team we’ve built,” Asmussen continued. “You might as well ask me and us to start building a racing game at this point. I don’t think anybody’s going to be really happy with the results of that.” The timing of the entire ordeal couldn’t have been more relevant to how things turned out. Had The Mandalorian released earlier and garnered as much critical acclaim as it currently has, Disney and LucasFilm likely would have stuck to its guns and demanded something that was a bit less Cal Kestus and a bit more Boba Fett. Personally I’d say that Respawn did an amazing job, and both Jedi Fallen Order and The Mandalorian have proven that Star Wars can be successful with or without the Force.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is now available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
So, thoughts on Asmussen’s revelation? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!
Ryan "Cinna" Carrier3026 Posts
Ryan is the Lead Editor for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he isn't writing, Ryan is likely considering yet another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX. He's also the DFTG cinnamon bun.
