Lucasfilm Games says it is taking pitches from a wider range of partners, including smaller studios, after Zero Company and Galactic Racer showed how Star Wars games can thrive outside the usual blockbuster mold.
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Lucasfilm Games is widening the cockpit
Lucasfilm Games is openly saying the next wave of Star Wars games will not be limited to the biggest publishers in the business. In an interview cited by The Game Business and reported by Push Square, Eurogamer, MP1st and others, Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilly said the company has become more flexible about whose pitches it will hear, while still holding projects to a high quality bar.
That is the concrete development behind the current burst of speculation around new Star Wars games. Reilly did not announce a title, a studio, a platform list, a release window, or a genre. What he did say is that Lucasfilm Games is exploring projects "large and small" with partners that he believes will "surprise" players when those collaborations are revealed.
The tension is obvious. Star Wars remains one of the most valuable licenses in entertainment, and players are trained to expect massive action-adventure releases, cinematic RPGs, or multiplayer tentpoles when the logo appears. Lucasfilm Games is now signaling that the next interesting turn may come from a smaller team with a sharper idea, rather than from the safest studio name on a corporate slate.
The strategy shift follows two smaller-scale wins
The change is easier to understand after this year’s two standout examples. Push Square describes Star Wars Zero Company and Star Wars: Galactic Racer as recent releases that launched to critical acclaim. Eurogamer similarly frames both as highly rated and well liked, while Insider Gaming reports that the two games landed in the mid-80s on Metacritic and rank among the highest-rated Star Wars games in roughly two decades.
The key detail is not only that they reviewed well. It is that neither fits the most familiar modern Star Wars video game template. Push Square notes that Zero Company is a tactical title and that Galactic Racer does not focus on Jedi or the traditional action-adventure experience. Eurogamer compares Zero Company to XCOM and Galactic Racer to Burnout, which immediately places both games in lanes where pacing, decision pressure, and mechanical identity matter as much as canon spectacle.
According to Push Square, Zero Company largely came from Bit Reactor, a studio with XCOM 2 pedigree behind it, and it was the developer’s first project. The same outlet says Galactic Racer was the debut effort from Fuse Games, though the team included lead developers with Burnout and Need for Speed experience. That distinction matters. Reilly’s comments do not suggest Lucasfilm is throwing the license to untested teams with no production history. His own wording, as quoted by Push Square and MP1st, stresses experienced teams and proven ability, even if the company is not a top-five publisher.
Lucasfilm is still licensing, not publishing
Eurogamer’s report includes the business explanation that shapes the whole story. Reilly described Lucasfilm as a licensing business, saying it is no longer the publisher of products. The goal, as he explained it, is to find a publishing partner and a developer, or a publisher-developer combination, for each project.
That model naturally favors portfolio thinking. A single internal studio would have to choose one direction at a time. A licensing group can instead pair different partners with different slices of the Star Wars universe, provided those partners can meet the quality threshold. One team can build tactics around squad positioning and attrition. Another can build velocity, crashes, and track flow. A larger studio can still build a Jedi-scale set piece with climbing, parries, boss fights, and cinematic traversal.
Reilly’s quoted line, "Good ideas can come from a lot of different places," is the most revealing part of the strategy. It reframes the license around fit rather than size. A smaller studio with the right genre literacy may be better equipped to make a focused Star Wars tactics game or racer than a larger publisher trying to stretch the license across every marketable feature at once.
The EA era still hangs over the conversation
Eurogamer points to the contrast with the period when EA held exclusive rights to make Star Wars games. The outlet notes that approach was often criticized for limiting creative output, both in the number of releases and in the genres that were chosen. That history is important because Reilly’s comments are not arriving in a vacuum. They land after years of fan frustration about how slowly licensed games could move when one publisher controlled the field.
The current approach does not guarantee abundance. Licensing deals still require approvals, funding, production discipline, platform planning, and marketing support. A Star Wars logo can open doors, but it can also raise costs, expectations, and scrutiny. The difference is that Lucasfilm Games is describing a broader intake valve. Instead of one publisher determining most of the playable future, multiple partners can pitch distinct visions.
For action-adventure players, that should not be read as Lucasfilm walking away from big swings. The confirmed and reported slate still includes major names and familiar forms. But the signal from Reilly is that those releases may share the calendar with games built around tighter combat loops, narrower genre promises, and lower blockbuster burden.
Known upcoming Star Wars titles are still a mixed board
The announced and publicly discussed slate remains limited, and that is where readers should separate confirmed direction from expectation. Push Square lists a third Star Wars Jedi entry from Respawn Entertainment and Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic from a new studio set up by Casey Hudson as future projects that have already been revealed. Eurogamer also refers to a third Respawn Jedi game as understood to be in the works and notes Hudson’s Fate of the Old Republic connection.
There are also the long-running question marks. Both Push Square and Eurogamer mention Star Wars Eclipse, the Quantic Dream project that has been in development for years. Eurogamer also says Saber Interactive continues to insist the Knights of the Old Republic Remake remains in development. Push Square’s writer argues that Eclipse and the KOTOR Remake have been in development so long that they may not be part of the newer small-partner initiative, but that is interpretation from the outlet rather than a statement from Lucasfilm Games.
What is not confirmed is the identity of Reilly’s surprise partners. No new small developer Star Wars games were named in the provided reports. No genres were specified. No release years, platforms, prices, or storefront listings were supplied for these teased collaborations. The confirmed fact is the licensing posture: Lucasfilm Games is listening more broadly and is exploring both large and small projects.
Smaller Star Wars projects could change the feel of play
If Zero Company and Galactic Racer are the model, the most interesting consequence for players is genre rhythm. Star Wars action-adventure games often live on escalation: a narrow escape, a duel, a ruined temple, a wall-run over a bottomless drop, then a boss fight tuned around timing and stamina. Smaller Star Wars games can chase different beats without having to carry the full weight of a cinematic saga.
A tactics game can make a blaster bolt feel expensive because one bad angle costs a squad member. A racer can make the galaxy tactile through speed, friction, and split-second track reading. A hypothetical stealth, co-op, strategy, or sim-leaning project would have room to focus on systems first, provided Lucasfilm approves the fit. That is the practical upside of licensing to teams with specific genre experience.
There is also risk. Smaller projects can be more focused, but they can also expose limits in budget, scope, multiplayer infrastructure, performance polish, or content depth. Reilly’s emphasis on experienced teams is therefore doing real work. Lucasfilm appears to be saying smaller does not mean casual about standards. For players, the useful test will be whether each announcement names a studio whose past work, or staff pedigree, matches the pitch.
How players should read the next announcement
The safest expectation is variety, not a sudden flood of release dates. Lucasfilm Games has teased surprising partners, but the reports do not confirm when those partnerships will be announced or how far along they are. Bespin Bulletin frames Reilly’s comments as a sign that interesting unannounced games are being looked at by Lucasfilm Games, while MP1st stresses that he did not name the partners or the genres.
That means players looking for upcoming Star Wars titles should treat the next reveal on its own terms. If it comes from a smaller studio, the first question should not be whether the developer is big enough for Star Wars. Reilly has already answered that at the licensing level. The sharper question is whether the team’s experience matches the game it is trying to make.
A smaller studio with racing veterans made Galactic Racer credible before the first corner. A tactics-focused team with XCOM lineage made Zero Company legible before the first mission. If Lucasfilm Games continues down that path, the future of Star Wars games may become less predictable in a healthy way, with the large Jedi adventures and RPG bets sitting beside tighter projects that understand one fantasy, one pace, and one combat language well enough to make the galaxy feel fresh again.