How 'Star Wars Outlaws' Came To Be

Star Wars

Apr 18

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Julian Garighty, Massive's creative director for Star Wars Outlaws, talked about the game's origins, the rationale behind making it open world, and the cooperation with Lucasfilm Games. When Massive had the chance to create a Star Wars video game, he described it as a "dream come true" opportunity, both for himself and practically everyone on the development team.

The company pitched the idea for the game, set in the underworld of the Star Wars galaxy and whose main character started as a poor street thief trying to become a reputable criminal just days before the outbreak of the pandemic with the following lockdown giving Massive the time to hammer out the main tentpoles of the story.

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Placing the story in the underworld offered the creatives the possibility to present a great variety of interesting characters and creatures, as well as the most versatility when it came to character development. As a scoundrel, Kay Vess is neither bound by the morales of the Rebel Alliance nor the iron rules of the Empire. Lucasfilm suggested having the story take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as this was the time when the Rebels were in retreat. At the same time, the Empire was focused on wiping them out, allowing the syndicates to grow and prosper in the shadows.

Star Wars Outlaws takes much inspiration from the look and feel of the Original Trilogy but is also influenced by films like Solo, TV shows like The Clone Wars, as well as by books and comics, both from current Star Wars lore and Legends. Lucasfilm worked closely with Massive when it came to designing planets, locations, and vehicles to make them as Star Warsy as possible, while Nix, the cute companion of Kay Vess, allowed Massive to bring a completely new species into Star Wars lore.

Building Star Wars Outlaws as an open-world game was another decision made very early on in the development process, based on Massive's experience in creating inversive games with rich and complex environments like the Division series. This naturally led to using Snowdrop as the game's engine, which was improved and expanded during development to offer the possibility of interplanetary travels through hyperspace.

Star Wars Outlaws' complex reputation system, where the player has to try to keep Kay in good favor of her respective employers while at the same time not becoming a target of one of the organization's assassins, is also a following of the game's setting within criminal syndicates like the Hutts, the Pykes, or Crimson Dawn. Having a good reputation provides the player chances for better jobs, more money, and even access to areas that would otherwise be prohibited.

Star Wars Outlaws will be released for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox X/S on August 30.