Between the Battlefront 2 fiasco and The Rise of Skywalker, it felt as if Star Wars was on the decline as a franchise. The Mandalorian helped restore my faith, though, even if the CGI corpse of young Mark Hamill still haunts me in my dreams. If the Lucasfilm Games experiment pans out, then maybe the Star Wars video games can be redeemed as well.
The biggest stories of the week include the return of Lucasfilm Games, more Cyberpunk 2077 drama, new Nintendo Switch game announcements, the Hitman 3 EGS controversy, the Indiana Jones game announcement, and several high-profile delays.
Lucasfilm Games Has Returned & Ubisoft Is Making A Star Wars Game
Big changes are happening in the world of Star Wars video games, as EA's vice-like grip on the license is starting to loosen. Disney announced that the Lucasfilm Games branding is returning and that it will apply to all Star Wars games, both past, and present. It will also be used for games based on other Lucasfilm properties.
EA is supposed to retain exclusive rights to develop Star Wars video games until 2023. It seems that Disney has other plans, as Ubisoft is making a Star Wars game. Very little is known about this game, as it's said to be in the earliest stages of development, but it marks the end of EA's control over the license. Maybe the Battlefront 2 controversy from a few years back had more of an effect than we realized?
Cyberpunk Drama Returns
We lasted a whole week without Cyberpunk 2077 drama, but we're back in it now. CD Projekt Red founder Marcin Iwinski released a video on Twitter that discussed the launch disaster. The team's aim is to work on the last-gen versions of the game, in order to get them up to speed. This means that the PS5/Xbox Series updates have been pushed back to the second half of 2021. It seems that even the fans who own the current-gen versions would have benefitted from waiting a year before purchasing the game.
Since then, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier released a report about the development of Cyberpunk 2077. It seems that management ignored the information provided to them about the developers regarding issues getting the game running on PS4/Xbox One. The report also claimed that the E3 2018 demo was fake, and that developers wasted months of time putting it together.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury & New Pokemon Snap News
Nintendo finally broke its silence regarding its 2021 schedule. A trailer for Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury showed off some of the new content in the game. Bowser's Fury is a standalone adventure, where a second player can play as Bowser Jr. and fight alongside Mario. Bowser will take on a giant form, and it's possible for Mario to transform into a Super Saiyan/colossal cat hybrid to fight him.
The Pokemon Company revealed that New Pokemon Snap will be released on April 30. The game is set in the brand new Lental region, and it will involve the player taking photos of 200 Pokemon. There is something making the Pokemon glow, called the Illumina phenomenon, and it's up to the player to investigate it.
EGS Exclusivity Screws Over Hitman Fans
Hitman 3 is on its way and console players will have a leg up over the PC players. If you own Hitman 2, then you can play through its levels in Hitman 3, but only on consoles. Hitman 3 is an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC until 2022. This means that you have to buy Hitman 2 on EGS to use its stages in Hitman 3, even if you already own the game on Steam. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has said that he's looking into the issue, so it's possible that a deal can be worked out before the game launches.
An Indiana Jones Game Is On The Way
It seems that the Lucasfilm Games logo won't be reserved for Star Wars games, as an Indiana Jones game is being developed by Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames, with Todd Howard acting as executive producer. Almost nothing is known about the game at this point. We don't know its genre, platforms, or if Harrison Ford is on board for voices. It's possible that it's early enough in development to be an Xbox Series X/S exclusive, but we won't know for a while yet.
Hogwarts Legacy Delayed To 2022 (Among Others)
The effects of the pandemic on the video game world are starting to be seen. WB Games announced that Hogwarts Legacy has been delayed to 2022. It wasn't long after that Rider's Republic lost its release date and Elite Dangerous: Odyssey was pushed back to autumn 2021. These are likely just the first of many games that will be pushed out of their release dates in 2021.