Last week was another brutal one for layoffs in the video game industry. That included Electronic Arts, which announced that it would lay off 5 percent of its total workforce. It also announced the surprising news that it would cancel plans for an upcoming Star Wars first-person shooter from developer Respawn, the makers of Apex Legends, and the two Star Wars Jedi games.
In its statement about the layoffs and the Star Wars game cancelation, EA stated that moving forward it would concentrate on working mostly with new games based on its own properties. Many people were afraid that meant the publisher would also cancel the development of another previously revealed Star Wars game.
In January 2022, EA first revealed that a new game development studio called Bit Reactor would work with Respawn on a Star Wars-themed strategy game. Since that announcement over two years ago, there"s been little to no info on that game.
However, this weekend Bit Reactor"s X (formerly Twitter) page did post a small update. It said that the past week "was difficult for the industry" but that the team was "still hard at work, and our game was unaffected by last week"s news."
Last week was difficult for the industry, and more so because of our strong relationships within the other teams at Respawn.
— BIT REACTOR (@bitreactor) March 2, 2024
But for those asking, we are still hard at work, and our game was unaffected by last week"s news.
Jordan DeVries, who worked at Respawn as the Lead UI/UX developer on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, posted a reply to that Bit Reactor post that said, "This team is making some really good Star Wars".
While there"s no info on a possible release date for the Bit Reactor Star Wars game, it"s good to know that it is going to continue development even with this newest EA restructuring.