EA’s Star Wars strategy game still in development following Respawn cancellation

The Star Wars strategy game currently in development at Bit Reactor will continue, despite recent layoffs at publisher EA.

That’s according to a post from the developer on X, following the news that Respawn’s first-person shooter was cancelled this week.

It wrote: “Last week was difficult for the industry, and more so because of our strong relationships within the other teams at Respawn. but for those asking, we are still hard at work, and our game was unaffected by last week’s news.”

Little is known about the game, which was announced alongside Respawn’s shooter and the third entry in the Star Wars Jedi franchise.

Respawn’s now-cancelled game was announced in 2022. The game was being helmed by former LucasArts veteran and Medal of Honor co-creator Peter Hirschmann, who previously worked on the original Battlefront games, The Force Unleashed and more.

In a statement published on Wednesday alongside the announcement of nearly 700 company-wide layoffs, EA Entertainment president Laura Miele said that after a review, it had decided Respawn should focus on the Jedi and Apex Legends series.

“Respawn’s unique ability to connect with players and create exceptional game experiences is unrivaled in entertainment,” she said in a statement. “As we’ve looked at Respawn’s portfolio over the last few months, what’s clear is the games our players are most excited about are Jedi and Respawn’s rich library of owned brands.

“Knowing this, we have decided to pivot away from early development on a Star Wars FPS Action game to focus our efforts on new projects based on our owned brands while providing support for existing games.”