If you didn’t already know, Respawn Entertainment is developing a first-person shooter Star Wars game, and the development studio has announced today that the upcoming game will also use Unreal Engine 5. The news of Respawns Star Wars game using Unreal Engine 5 comes as no shock because that seems to be the way the tides are turning for future video games, but the confirmation is still music to our ears.
The news was announced by the development team itself on Twitter. Melissa Janowicz is the team’s Lead Combat AI Designer, and she revealed the details today in response to a Twitter user asking what engine the team would be using on this future game. Janowicz originally posted a tweet that announced the team was searching for skilled developers for Respawns Star Wars first-person shooter. The roles in question are for a Narrative System Designer and a Senior Mission Designer – they shouldn’t be too hard to come by.
As you can see from the Twitter thread, an inquisitive Twitter user responded to the ad, not with their interest but with just a few simple words “I wonder what engine the team will be using?” in response, Janowicz replied, “Our project in on Unreal Engine 5.” The smallest of Twitter interactions between a hyped-up fan and the Lead Combat AI Designer for the game has led to quite the announcement, who would have thought that?
As we mentioned earlier though, the announcement itself is not that surprising because Respawn Entertainment has always had a positive relationship with the Epic Games engine, it would almost be rude to not use it at this point. The relationship between the two is so loyal that Respawn even prefers it to Frostbite, owner of Electronic Arts, of which he is a first-part developer. It really is the natural step for Respawn to use Unreal Engine 5, due to the studio having so much success in the past for previous games. The hugely successful Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from 2019 was made with the previous model, Unreal Engine 4, and even though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the upcoming sequel Jedi: Survivor will most likely use the latest version of the engine.
Apart from this news though, nothing is really known about Respawns upcoming first-person shooter. However, the success of the previous Star Wars games that were released from the studio means that this could be quite the game. The other big first-person shooter to use the Star Wars brand was the Star Wars Battlefront series. The original games were a huge success when they were released in the 2000s, but the reboots were met with a notoriously mixed reaction, although some improvements were made in the 2017 sequel. Here’s hoping this future game dislodges Battlefront though, hopefully allowing another first-person Star Wars shooter to take center stage for once.