Highlights
- Star Wars has a history of canceled video game projects with great potential, such as the Darth Maul-led game Battle of the Sith Lords.
- Star Wars Battlefront 3 and Star Wars 1313 were among the highly anticipated projects that met tragic ends due to various reasons.
- Star Wars continues to cancel promising ideas, with the latest victim being Respawn's Star Wars FPS project.
One of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet, Star Wars has 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 as Star Wars' vast collection of video games.
Star Wars has 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 for every Star Wars video game project that 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.
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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 a Darth Maul-led Star Wars game back in the early 2010s before it was unceremoniously canceled. Intended to be a more mature Star Wars game, Battle of the Sith Lords was 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 Lords was eventually canceled during its prototyping phase in June 2011, with Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm being cited as the main cause by developers.
Star Wars Battlefront 3 Met a Tragic End
Possibly one of the most infamous Star Wars video game cancelations, Star Wars Battlefront 3 originally 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 3 was 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 of Free Radical's FPS Haze, though ex-Free Radical devs have argued against these factors.
Star Wars 1313 Had So Much Potential
Another unfortunately memorable cancelation, Star Wars 1313 may have looked like a fairly generic Uncharted clone 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 1313 would revolve around a young Boba Fett as they try to blast their way through Coruscant's underworld. Unfortunately, Star Wars 1313 was 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 second Republic Commando game to a third Force Unleashed installment to another Jedi Knight entry.
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 unfortunate Star Wars tale, Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicRemake is in an extremely precarious situation. Officially revealed in 2021, the Star Wars: KOTOR remake has 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 disappointing Star Wars cancelations, Respawn's upcoming Star Wars first-person shooter project has been officially canceled by EA. Heavily rumored to be a game revolving around Mandalorians, this is yet another excellent video game idea that Star Wars seems to be wasting, and unfortunately, it probably won't be the last.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic lets players step into the Star Wars universe and engage in their Sci-Fi adventure. Players can create their own character, choosing from a variety of recognizable Star Wars-based races. They can master multiple skills and abilities and even create their own lightsaber.
