As allegations of a troubled development cycle have begun to circulate, Quantic Dream has denied that their upcoming Star Wars Eclipse has been delayed.
Revealed during The Game Awards 2021, Quantic Dream’s take on Star Wars promises to be “an intricately branching action-adventure game” set in the High Republic Era “that can be experienced in many ways, and puts the destinies of multiple playable characters in your hands.”
Earlier reports by Xfire reporter Tom Henderson, a frequent source on leaks for EA and Battlefield titles, initially claimed that the release of Star Wars Eclipse was at least three to four years away, with a subsequent report indicating the game wouldn’t see a release until the end of the decade around 2027 or 2028.
Citing an anonymous former Quantic Dream developer, Henderson had claimed that the game’s internal engine really only worked best in small levels with few areas and simple AI – the same alleged reason the studio opted to take a cinematic approach with their previous Beyond Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human.
Allegedly aiming to feature a “massive multiplanetary open world” and Quantic Dream’s first multiplayer outing, the developer is allegedly struggling to produce even a playable version of Star Wars: Eclipse after 18 months of development.
Staffing was also another alleged issue, with the studio recently seeking to recruit over 60 employees to its Paris office amid allegations of a toxic workplace and financial malpractice – at least one of which has since been ruled as libel.
The announcement trailer for Star Wars: Eclipse was also allegedly intended to not only attract more staff, but to showcase their resources – such as the aforementioned engine – to potential buyers.
Seemingly prompted by these rumors, Quantic Dream issued a statement to GamesRadar on March 16th clarifying, “Star Wars Eclipse has not been delayed because Quantic Dream never announced or promised a launch window for the title.”
“Recruiting remains active as it works on Star Wars Eclipse, third-party publishing, and unannounced projects,” the statement continued before spotlighting the studio’s recent announcement that they had increased their workforce by 50% in 2021 and pulled in “consolidated net results before tax of over €5.8 million ($6.4 million).”
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“In a context still affected by the sanitary crisis, the year 2021 was marked at Quantic Dream by results beyond expectations, as well as a significant increase of more than 50% in our workforce, and the materialization of various production partnerships,” Quantic Dream General Manager Guillaume de Fondaumière explained in the announcement.
Highlighting the studio’s “third consecutive year of record profits”, de Fondaumière further asserted, “Our very good financial results, are explained by the robust sales of our back catalog titles, and in particular Detroit: Become Human, which surpassed the symbolic one million copies sold on Steam during the year 2021.”
“This title is now Quantic Dream’s biggest commercial success, with over 6.5 million copies sold on PC and PS4 worldwide,” he added.
Further, Quantic Dream Production Director Sophie Buhl told investors, “After a year of steady growth in our workforce, we are opening a second major recruitment cycle at our two production sites in Montreal and Paris.”
“In a constant effort to innovate, we are opening up to new types of games and challenges and we will continue to make a major effort in Research and Development,” she said. “This offers great opportunities to those who wish to work on ambitious and innovative projects, within diverse teams that are more and more led by women.”
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