Picture: Lucasfilms Who was the mysterious character at the end of episode 1 of The Mandalorian season 2?

And open world Mandalorian game, anyone? (pic: Lucasfilm)

EA are no longer the sole holders of the Star Wars licence, as the team behind The Division start work on a story-driven open world game.

Lucasfilm Games are not messing around. In less than two days, Disney’s revived video game publisher has announced two brand new, big budget titles by major developers and this second one is an open world Star Wars game by The Division developer Massive Entertainment.

As with yesterday’s Indiana Jones reveal there’s virtually no other information about the game, other than confirming that it will be led by The Division 2 director Julian Gerighty and that it will use the same Snowdrop graphics engine.

Whether it’s intended as a game as a service title like The Division is so far unclear. However, the emphasis on it being ‘story-driven’ may suggest not.

There’s also no clue as to what the time period or setting is, but just yesterday respected Bloomberg insider Jason Schreier hinted that Lucasfilm are planning a game based on a bounty hunter.

That immediately suggests The Mandalorian, except he was replying to a tweet from ‘Boba Fett Fan Club’ and there is a new Boba Fett Disney+ series coming out this December – although whatever the focus you’d expect both characters to feature.

A lot of people are asking for this but it’s never going to happen. The Star Wars 1313 team is scattered and the code is eight years old. What’s far more likely is that Lucasfilm kicks off a bunch of new Star Wars games, including maybe even one about a bounty hunter https://t.co/GeNA9qXZ9O

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 12, 2021

A blog post on StarWars.com clarifies that EA is no longer the sold Star Wars licence holder when it comes to console games, although it’s unclear whether Disney are cutting their tenure short or if they’re just planning ahead for when it runs out in two years’ time.

Either way, EA will be allowed to continue to make Star Wars games, along with Ubisoft and others, and it seems almost certain that a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is already underway. Star Wars: Squadrons developer Motive are also known to be working on a new game too.

‘We’ve got a lot of stuff we’re ready to start sharing with fans,’ Lucasfilm Games VP Douglas Reilly told StarWars.com. ‘Because we’ve been working quietly behind the scenes for a while now, waiting for this moment.’

‘We’re looking to work with best-in-class teams that can make great games across all of our IP. We’ve got a team of professionals here at Lucasfilm Games who can work with the developers, shape the stories, shape the creative, shape the games, to make them really resonate with fans and deliver across a breadth of platforms, genres, and experiences so that all of our fans can enjoy the IPs that they know and love’, he added.

This seems to clarify the situation with Bethesda and their Indiana Jones game and makes it much less likely that title will be an Xbox exclusive.

What we don’t know though is if Lucasfilm Games has any plans to revive any of its own brands, like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango, or if it will also return to making new, original IP.