Lucasfilm have struck a deal with developers Skydance to make a new Star Wars game.

Except it's more a revival of an earlier game which had been in development and which actually began life as a Jamaican pirate game.

Seriously.

Cheers to GameRant for that little tidbit.

Back in 2013 their corporate overlords EA had shut down a pirate game to put them to work on a new Star Wars game and they decided to keep things piratical.

We'd long wondered why the focus of this formerly cancelled title (known as Project Ragtag) would be criminal.

It always struck us as a very odd choice for this franchise and as reported by GameRant factored into one of its internal cancellations.

"Where are the lightsabers?"

We'd have been asking the same had the game made it to release.

And apparently now it will. Again.

The official reason given for its final cancellation was that single-player games don't make enough money.

There was intense developer lust for microtransactions and gambling boxes and much rhetoric to the effect that "players don't want single-player games."

That rhetoric just doesn't hold up in the face of Elden Ring's 12 million copies sold in its first two months.

While Elden Ring allows multi-player it is primarily a single player game and without any of the "live service" trappings.

And this Star Wars game is revived again.

Do players want and is there money to be made in single-player games?

Sure.

We're not sure they're entirely on the right track with this one's design but it is very likely acknowledgement by Lucasfilm of the demand for and value of single-player games.

And in lesser Star Wars news....

Liam Neeson on Qui-Gon Jinn

Reversing an earlier stance of not wanting to return to the role, speaking with ComicBook.com Liam Neeson has indicated that he might be amenable to the idea if it was a film.

Oh, I think so, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so ... if it was a film. Yeah, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to TV, I must admit, I just like the big screen, you know?

Star Wars has stalled on the film front.

Disney has probably hit the pause button on films while they try to revive the franchise with TV offerings but will have to start making films again eventually.

Would this make sense though?

Qui-Gon died at the end of his film. That doesn't leave much scope for a now older Liam in the role.

Except as a teacher for Yoda after the events of Episode III.

But that's according to the original story, not the retconned one.

In the original story, following Yoda's humbling defeat / draw at the hands of Palpatine during which he realised that the Sith had evolved and outclassed the Jedi, he is visited by Qui-Gon's force ghost and becomes his student to learn a different relationship with the Force.

There could have been potential for a film in that.

But in the retconned story Yoda secretly knew Palpatine was the Sith Lord who would destroy the Jedi and take over the galaxy.

And horrifyingly he allowed it to happen because some force spirits assured him it would all work out for the best.

What potential is there in that?

Two hours of Qui-Gon cursing Yoda as a fool and a monster?

[ Main Image: Project Ragtag. Credit Lucasfilm via Eurogamer. ]

References

Bankhurst, Adam (March 16, 2022). Elden Ring Has Already Sold 12 Million Copies Worldwide. IGN.

Cavanaugh, Patrick (April 18, 2022). Liam Neeson Wants to Return to Star Wars as Qui-Gon Jinn. ComicBook.com.

Phillips, Tom (April 15, 2019). Amy Hennig reacts to Jedi: Fallen Order announce, reveals more of her cancelled single-player Star Wars game. Eurogamer.

StarWars.com (April 19, 2022). Amy Hennig and Skydance New Media Creating New Star Wars Game.

Swan, Cameron (April 20, 2022). Everything Known About Amy Hennig's Previous Canceled Star Wars Game. GameRant.

Wikipedia. Project Ragtag. (viewed April 23, 2022)