Electronic Arts’ sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was made in record time, but ‘don’t call it a miracle’, says video game director
- The single- player sequel to 2019 game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was produced in 3½ years during the Covid-19 pandemic, half the time normally taken
- The action-adventure game stars Cal Kestis, a Jedi who is on the run from the malevolent, fascistic Empire, and the combat and navigation feel satisfying
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the latest release from Electronic Arts, is something of a miracle in modern video-game development. It is single-player only, has no microtransactions and was made during the pandemic in roughly three years – half the time it takes to produce many of today’s big games.
But Stig Asmussen, the director of the game, is quick to dismiss any suggestion that the game’s development was miraculous.
“If anything, it’s a testament to the team,” Asmussen said, adding that it was easier to plan out the schedule because it was a sequel rather than an entirely new type of game. “And, to be fair, it was three-and-a-half years.”
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, released on PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S, immerses players in the expansive universe of the ubiquitous sci-fi franchise.
Set between the big-screen prequels and the original trilogy, the action-adventure game stars Cal Kestis, a Jedi who is on the run from the malevolent, fascistic Empire. Survivor is the sequel to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which EA said has more than 20 million players.
Both games were developed by EA’s Los Angeles-based Respawn Entertainment.
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EA is looking at Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to bounce back from a rocky stretch. In January, the video-game publisher closed a game studio and cancelled several games, including a different project at Respawn. Last month, it laid off 6 per cent of its workforce.
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Early indications suggest that the latest Star Wars game could be a hit. Rather than re-create the common sequel trope, in which the hero’s abilities are reset and must be accumulated again from scratch, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor lets Cal keep everything he learned in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, including the double-jump feature, which makes moving around a blast.
The game is full of cliffs to climb, strange animals to ride and storm troopers to hack apart.
Respawn began conceiving Survivor in autumn 2019. Several months later, when the pandemic hit, Asmussen and his team quickly adapted to remote work.
“I think we were somewhat fortunate because we were really early in production,” he said. “The lion’s share of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has been working remotely.”
Even without the pandemic, the three-and-a-half year development cycle of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor would be a remarkable achievement.
Comparatively straightforward sequels, such as Sony’s God of War: Ragnarök and Horizon: Forbidden West, also took at least four years to produce.
Asmussen said the team developed chemistry and grew familiar with production pipelines on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Perhaps most crucially, he said, they were willing to iterate quickly and cut features from the game when necessary.
“We want to be ambitious but we don’t want to get in a position where we’re kind of setting ourselves up to not hit all our marks,” Asmussen said. “Our philosophy is: ‘It’s OK to fail, but fail fast, fail early’.”
The results are impressive. The game has some bugs and glitches, but the combat and navigation feel satisfying.
There’s a big focus on aesthetic customisation options that transform Cal’s facial hair, outfits and even his lightsabre. There’s something delightful about opening up a treasure chest in an ancient Jedi temple and simply finding “beard”.
Respawn has become one of EA’s most important studios thanks to a nonstop string of hits, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the popular, multiplayer shooter game Apex Legends.
With Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the studio appears to have pulled off another success – even if the developers don’t want to call it a miracle.
