‘Star Wars Outlaws’ is not influenced by ‘Star Wars 1313’, says developer

Star Wars Outlaws developer Ubisoft has shared a lot of new details about the upcoming open-world title, including how little it has been influenced by the cancelled Star Wars 1313.

In an interview with IGN, Star Wars Outlaws‘ narrative director Navid Khavari, creative director Julian Gerighty and Lucasfilm senior creative executive Matt Martin, spoke about how the game wants to strike a tone that is both recognisable but original for fans.

For example, the moon Toshara is inspired by biomes in East Africa and showed off the “the 80/20 rule” that Lucasfilm pins at the centre of its Star Wars properties. “It’s 80% familiar, 20% alien, 20% fantastical,” Martin explained.

“Working with [Ubisoft] Massive has been amazing because they’re coming to the table with already great ideas, some really deep cuts that I was shocked to see, the sort of things where it’s brought up in a room and I’m like I’m the only one that’s going to get this,” he added on where the game sits in the Star Wars timeline.

IGN mentioned that the most recent Star Wars games – Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor – are set after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Conversely, Star Wars Outlaws tells a story between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

“It starts with this big galaxy, and you don’t want it to feel too small galaxy,” Martin said, adding that there hasn’t been a “scoundrel story in this era on screen” before.

“There is so much story to tell there and to have a character like Kay, who’s not a Jedi or a Sith or anything like that, she is a thief who’s just trying to get by to step into the underworld and navigate her reputation with these syndicates,” Khavari said.

Star Wars 1313 was a natural stepping stone to think of when talking of criminal underworlds and syndicates in the series. However, the team has not used the game as an inspiration at all.

“This was really from the ground up,” Khavari added.

“We don’t have access to any other space. And to be honest, the pleasure as creators is also to try and find our own way and our own niche and think of things with the experience and the scale that Massive and the Palm Studios can bring to it,” Gerighty said.

In other gaming news, CD Projekt Red is preparing to let go of “around 100” staff in the third instance of layoffs in three months.