It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make a video game, but many projects never see the light of day. For decades, Star Wars has inspired countless video games and seen some potentially great games canceled before release, even in recent years under Disney ownership.
As satisfied as Star Wars fans have been with new video games like Jedi: Fallen Order and Battlefront II, they have been just as disappointed with the announced video games that had the plug pulled on them. Star Wars could be in a wildly different place in gaming today if these games were completed, but instead, they're relegated to the dustbins of history.
Star Wars 1313
Before The Mandalorian explored the world of bounty hunting, LucasArts planned a 2012 video game exploring Boba Fett's missions called Star Wars: 1313. Taking place in Coruscant's underworld capital called Level 1313, audiences' were treated to a gameplay trailer followed by a six-minute demo that previewed 1313's spectacular action inspired by the Uncharted series.
Despite gaining a large amount of buzz in development, the game became a victim to Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm that year. Production of the game was put on hold in 2013 before Disney shut down LucasArts later that year, ending everyone's hopes of 1313. Years after its cancellation, screenshots of the game featuring Boba Fett resurfaced online, reminding fans what could have been. The one sliver of hope for fans is that thanks to the massive success of The Mandalorian, a Star Wars bounty hunting game could be made in the spirit of 1313.
Red Fly Studio's Darth Maul
You can't deny the appeal of a Star Wars game where a villain is the main playable character. In 2010, LucasArts and Red Fly Studio began discussing ideas for a video game starring Darth Maul, in which his story would've been expanded beyond the events of The Phantom Menace. They considered titles such as Maul and Battle of the Sith Lords and attempted to craft's the Sith Lord's journey following his supposed death on Naboo, which The Clone Wars series would later do.
Red Fly studio founder Dan Borth revealed they wanted to use the game to explore Maul's origin story. Like Star Wars 1313, the planned Darth Maul video game was shelved when Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012. Concept art and some gameplay footage of the abandoned project later surfaced and showed a project with a ton of potential, but it wasn't meant to be.
Project Ragtag
In 2013 Electronic Arts and Visceral Games hired Uncharted creator Amy Hennig to make a Star Wars game in the spirit of her popular franchise titled Project Ragtag. Set during the events of the classic trilogy, Ragtag would have followed a group of space scoundrels pulling off massive heists around the galaxy. The gang of Han Solo-like misfits included Dodger, his partner Robie, a mob boss's daughter named Oona and the crew's mentor Buck. Unfortunately, as the game developed, it continued to increase in budget and ambition.
When Star Wars: Battlefront was released in 2015 and became a hit, EA began to shift focus away from Visceral's single-player experience and towards developing Battlefront II. Production on Ragtag stalled in 2016 when Visceral suffered lay-offs and employee departures. By 2017 Visceral studio itself was shut down by EA, and the game was officially canceled. Visceral Games producer Zack Mumbach recently discussed Ragtag at length and lamented the cancellation, claiming it would have been "the greatest Star Wars game ever made."
Project Orca
Following Visceral Studios' closure, Project Ragtag was handed off to EA Vancouver and began from scratch under the name Project Orca. The supposed plan was an open-world adventure while still playing as space scoundrels and bounty hunters. Work on the project had been kept under wraps for a couple of years before EA decided to cancel Project Orca in January 2019.
While EA never explained why they canceled the game, the alleged reason was that they wanted to shift focus from the massive, open-world of Orca to a smaller scale game, which was likely 2020's Star Wars: Squadrons. EA has notoriously struck out with Star Wars games, having canceled multiple titles like the Battlefront spin-off Project Viking. Perhaps those lessons learned can pay off with great finished games in the future.
Knights of the Old Republic III
Easily the most respected games in Star Wars' history are the Knights of the Old Republic series released in the early 2000s. Even though they were born of an older generation of consoles, Star Wars fans who play these games today will still be engrossed in the setting, which occurs 4,000 years before the films' events.
Since Knights was the most successful Star Wars video game franchise, it would make sense that Bioware would move forward on a third game. Unfortunately, it wound up not happening due to LucasArts' ongoing financial problems and the project was shelved. All that's available of the canceled game is concept art in the book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts. Despite a third game never coming to fruition, a rumor surfaced last January that there is a new Knights of the Old Republic game in development.