It's been a few months since we last heard anything about Amy Hennig or the Star Wars game she was working on. The game was canceled last year, reportedly because EA's executives found it to be too "linear." Since then, there has been no word of either Hennig or the project's status. That changed today at a gaming conference in Barcelona, where Hennig finally announced what she's been up to. Short answer: it's not Star Wars.
Hennig was the creative director for a secret single-player Star Wars game at EA. The game was said to take inspiration from the Uncharted series, which Hennig created. However, according to Eurogamer, EA was unhappy with that direction. It moved the project over to EA Vancouver, leaving Hennig's future up in the air. At Barcelona's Gamelab conference, she took the time to clear the air.
"I have not worked at EA since January, technically, legally," she told Eurogamer.
She also said there were two reasons for the lack of a formal announcement. One was that EA itself wasn't giving a clear answer. When asked about Hennig, EA people would say things like "Well, we're in negotiations..." and never flat-out say she was gone. Hennig herself also felt awkward about making any declarations because she didn't have anything in the works after leaving. "It makes it sound like I just went home!" she said.
Now, however, she's planning to go into business herself. "I just started my own small little independent studio and am consulting with some people. I'm hoping to bring some people on board, I would love to have a little company of about six to eight people, 15 at the most, and do some more projects, do some VR stuff."
As for that Star Wars game? "I'm not doing anything Star Wars. And, who knows what the future may hold, but that project is on the shelf now." EA Vancouver might still be doing it, or they might be working on something vastly different. "The Vancouver studio is working on something pretty different. It's really not... Y'know, once you go more open world it's such a different game to the one we were making."
It sounds like she knows what they're doing, but can't say. After all, the game isn't even formally announced. She does mention the phrase "open world" which does address EA's issues with the direction she took. Perhaps EA Vancouver scrapped her idea and is making an open world Star Wars game. Or maybe in the process they found something new and are retooling it into an entirely new sci-fi open world IP. Only time will tell. At least now the mystery of Hennig's whereabouts is solved.
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