Star Wars Eclipse Is In Serious Trouble
Star Wars Eclipse quickly became one of the most anticipated video games in development, but it looks like it could all come crashing down very quickly.
This article is more than 2 years old
Quantic Dream announced Star Wars Eclipse earlier this month at The Game Awards and revealed a short gameplay trailer showcasing their vision of the game to the fans. However, it would seem that the project encountered some trouble in development, despite being in very early stages.
According to ComicBook, Tom Henderson, a reputable game industry insider, revealed that Quantic Dream might struggle with Star Wars Eclipse. He pointed out that the information should be taken as a rumor but went on to disclose that the main point of developmental issues with Eclipse, at this moment, might have something to do with the game’s engine. Quantic Dream previously worked on fantastic titles, such as Detroit: Become Human and Beyond: Two Souls and the proprietary engine the company is using has been designed to work with those titles.
The problem lies in the fact that these games differ from Star Wars Eclipse in terms of gameplay, which the engine either can’t cope with or has issues running, thus requiring modification. As we previously mentioned, Star Wars Eclipse has been in development for 18 months, but according to Henderson, Quantic Dream still doesn’t have a playable version of the game internally. This isn’t indicative of anything, especially in the long run, considering that the game probably won’t release before 2023. But it could indicate that things have gotten off to a rockier start than originally anticipated.
Henderson also mentioned that a multiplayer mode or component might be in the cards for Star Wars Eclipse, but people at Quantic are still having issues with figuring out how exactly it will function. But again, these are just rumors and should be treated as such, regardless of the source. The official channels, Quantic Dream primarily, have stated that the game is in the stage of very early development when most issues are expected and addressed, and not having a playable version of the game at that point isn’t really an issue. So, many of these aforementioned problems might not be as serious as Quantic enters in full production of the game.
However, many of these issues sound challenging. Quantic Dream is known for using a proprietary gaming engines — a technology they programmed specifically for their own projects. But they’re also known for using Unreal Engine 5, which is capable of running strategy games, such as the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse. As we have previously stated, it’s highly unlikely for QD as a company to have gaming engine issues. Unless the leaker had something else in mind, that would imply that the company behind some of the best-selling gaming titles conceptualized a game and started building it on the wrong gaming engine.
That isn’t likely to happen when you’re running a multimillion-dollar project. The company either sourced a different engine or developed its own specifically for these purposes. In either case, going almost exclusively from action-adventures to Star Wars Eclipse, a tactical strategy game would require some adaptation of the development team, which could pose minor issues within the company, but nothing major.
