Ubisoft’s latest entry into the Star Wars universe, Star Wars Outlaws, promises a thrilling adventure without the overwhelming time commitment of some of its other franchises. In an interview with VGC, Creative Director Julian Gerighty emphasised that Star Wars Outlaws is designed to be a concise yet immersive experience.
“Very, very early on, we decided this is going to be a 25, 30 hours golden path adventure, 50 hours, 60 hours for completionists,” he said. “For a guy with a family and a job, it’s still a fair amount of time. But it’s not Assassin’s Creed epic, 200 hours’ worth of gameplay, so that allows us to really focus on the detail, it allows us to focus, maybe with a smaller team, on executing something that is manageable.”
When asked if the game could encompass everything initially envisioned, Gerighty shared his philosophy on game development. “As a creator, I’m a big believer in setting an initial vision that’s exciting, ambitious and achievable,” he said. “It’s super important to make sure that everybody who’s working on the game is working in the same direction towards the same goal.”
While the core vision of Star Wars Outlaws has been largely respected, some compromises were necessary. “We wanted swimming, like the first few iterations of the pitch that we did, we’d have loved to have had swimming,” Gerighty revealed. “It’s not possible, animation said, it’s not possible in terms of the scope. So, OK, we can live without that, we’ll do without it, there’s plenty of other things that we can explore.”
Despite some features being cut, new elements were also added during development. “All of the mini games that we have — I don’t know if you played Sabacc or the arcade games — none of those were planned originally,” Gerighty explained. “So those were added during the development, so there’s a little bit of give and take.”
Star Wars Outlaws releases 30 August for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Edwin is a seasoned raconteur with a lifelong passion for video games, comic books, movies, and more. He thrives on captivating stories and immersive world-building, with a soft spot for adorable monsters.
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