Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Made Disney Nervous

When Respawn first revealed that they were taking on the single-player world with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, fans everywhere surprisingly put their faith in the TitanFall studio despite their multiplayer-focused background. From what we’ve seen so far, Fallen Order looks incredible, but according to CEO Vince Zampella, Disney needed a lot more convincing. 

Speaking with Game Informer, Zampella talked about how their take on the Star Wars universe made Disney nervous. Zampella told the site that Disney was being very cautious in the beginning because the property was “so precious” but that they were eventually able to calm concerns and the team feels very good about how they were able to handle such an iconic franchise. That didn’t mean that the road to convincing was easy, but it all eventually came together and “resonated well with them” at the end of the day.

To say that the Star Wars fandom has been up in arms would be a massive statement over recent game cancellations and perceptions of the recent films, so it’s understandable why Disney and LucasFilm would be nervous about future takes, especially from a studio that is still relatively new to the single-player scope, especially to this scale. 

It looks like Disney is also very much involved with the level of violence shown in this game as well. In a recent interview, Star Wars: The Clone Wars story artist, Drewry Carvin, opened up about how protective Disney was about the level of combat being portrayed. That’s right, no more flying hands.

Carvin told the site, “One of the rules we were given was to always hide the cut in case of decapitation. And never show blood. The burn of the lightsaber is supposed to cauterize it instantly.” It looks like Jedi Fallen Order is expected to adhere to the same rules, which means no dismemberment and no exorbitant violence.

Though we’re sure many will immediately say this is a bad move and will make the game suffer for it, there are thousands of incredible titles out there that have toned down violence that do really well. Respawn looks to really have a handle on where they want this narrative to go and given how intimately it ties into the Star Wars universe, including the shows, I personally don’t think we’ll see the game suffer. 

As for the game itself, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launches on November 15th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. You can learn more about the upcoming title with our Star Wars Game hub right here!