In the current AAA gaming climate in which live-service multiplayer and microtransaction-soaked mobile games reign supreme, there are a few words that will bring gamers to a new a title in droves right now, and Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is saying all of them: single-player with no microtransactions. Star Wars Celebration is on in full-force this week, and even though potential players will finally be learning some concrete details about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order today, it’s likely this latest news is all that some needed to hear.
Jedi: Fallen Order’s presence at Star Wars Celebration has been known for a little while now, and the public’s reception to what’s shown of the game today may ultimately be a deciding factor in publisher EA’s future with partner Disney. Having more or less piddled away six years of its exclusive ten-year Star Wars license with nerf-herding duds like the multiplayer-focused Battlefront games and, well, virtually nothing else, the pressure is on at EA and Respawn for Jedi: Fallen Order to be a commercial hit. Earlier this week, though, fans got a tiny taste of what’s to come in the form of a leaked poster, and the hype surrounding this small news seems palpable enough to allay some fears about the game’s performance upon launch.
Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella took to the Star Wars Celebration stage yesterday to proudly announce that Jedi: Fallen Order is a strictly story-based experience with “no multiplayer” and “no microtransactions.” As captured in the video below, the waiting crowd went understandably wild at these words alone. The small reveal has since reverberated throughout the internet, taking the gaming community’s excitement for the mysterious game to heights even Cloud City would envy. Additionally, if Twitter user Nibel is to be believed, the hype train isn’t letting off anytime soon as the game apparently has a release date: November 15, 2019.
Set after the cataclysmic events of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Respawn’s Jedi: Fallen Order will see players follow the (probably bleak) journey of a Padawan who somehow escaped death after the declaration of Order 66 - Anakin couldn’t get all of them in the Jedi Temple, after all. Left only with a small droid companion and a lightsaber, the Padawan protagonist must make his “journey to - what, well we don’t know,” according to a humorously coy Zampella. What’s known, though, is that Jedi: Fallen Order is highly unlikely to follow in the footsteps of EA’s last major Star Wars title, Battlefront II, which was lambasted by consumers and critics alike for its shamelessly greedy balance around predatory loot boxes. A holiday release this year for Jedi: Fallen Order would only put icing on the cake.
Though it may feel like fans know a lot already, there’s still a Star Destroyer-load of unknown details about Jedi: Fallen Order that have yet to be revealed. With luck, though, today’s panel focusing exclusively on the upcoming game will confirm what’s been leaked so far, and it can be hoped it’ll also show more than it tells by providing footage of the game’s never-before-seen gameplay.
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Source: Star Wars Celebration, Nibel/Twitter
