Star Wars Outlaws promises to be an exciting new addition to the Ubisoft and Massive catalog, but according to creative director Julian Gerighty, its existence stems from a conversation at the 2018 E3 gaming expo.
The interview, which was written up by gamesindustry.biz reporter Christopher Dring, took place at a cafe near The Orpheum Theater’s The Division 2 showcase, where Ubisoft Massive managing director David Polfeldt was “chatting” with Disney in hopes of establishing a business relationship between the two companies.
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“They had a list of developers they wanted to work with, and Massive was on that list,” Gerighty told GI.biz. […] David was also very enthusiastic about the relationship.” He continued, “I’m not sure if we’ll ever do Star Wars together. It could be another Disney title. But deep down, each of us has a dream to make a Star Wars game one day. So that’s where we started.”
Gerighty points out that this kind of meeting is one of the main strengths of E3 – an event where a wide range of game developers from all major studios come together in one space. It’s there that conversations like the one that led to the creation of Star Wars: Outlaws can happen spontaneously, while Dring points out in his article that a similar meeting led to the Pirates of the Caribbean crossover between Disney and Rare just a year later.
“Everyone is in one place, rather than one person at one end of town and another at the other end of town,” Gerighty said. […] I feel sad for E3 because we don’t have that moment anymore.”
Today, the replacement for E3 is Summer Game Fest, a similar, albeit smaller, event that takes place in Los Angeles, less than 20 minutes from the Los Angeles Convention Center, where E3 is held. These talks will certainly still happen, but they may be less frequent than in the past.
And they’re important. With this partnership and the launch of Star Wars: Outlaws, Massive has grown significantly and, as of this writing, has one of the most anticipated AAA games on the market. This at least shows the power of the web and these big gaming events to the video game development landscape.
