Halo changed the gaming world when it was released in 2001. While there were a few first-person shooter games released before Halo, Halo showed what a first-person war game could be like for the first time.
The same year, Grand Theft Auto was released, showing off what the open-world concept could do. Several open-world games had been created before GTA, including Sega Jet Rocket in 1980, but GTA was considered a game changer because of the immense options and outcomes that could take place.
The gaming industry has seen few drastic changes since then. Even though graphics have improved and open-world games have gained more freedom, the basic format of first-person fighting in open-world games has remained the same. Could that be about to change?
Potential Reach of Star Wars
Star Wars is already the second most popular movie franchise, behind only Marvel. Since Marvel hasn’t really promoted video games, Star Wars has a much larger potential audience than any other gaming franchise if they can get everything right.
To date, or at least until the last five years or so, the overall effort and gameplay of Star Wars games have been average, at best. Whether it was because the name brand was able to sell copies regardless of the quality or simply because the top developers never wanted to work on Star Wars projects, the point remains the same – Star Wars has never achieved a level of development and gameplay similar to Halo, GTA, Call of Duty, etc. But is everything starting to change, with Jedi Survivor being at the forefront?
Getting on Par
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor may be taking a new angle and opening up a new future for gaming. Unlike Star Wars: Fallen Order, this game seems to be opening up an open-world concept we’ve never seen before.
Early reports of Jedi Survivor suggest that there will be more planets to explore, less linear gameplay, and much more incentive to discover side quests and complete alternative missions. In Fallen Order, there were five explorable planets (eight planets total), but at times things appeared to be somewhat linear, with one clear objective and not very much incentive to go off of the beaten path.
The development and coding of Jedi Survivor also appear to be similar to that of a game like Call of Duty. The gameplay trailer shows the ability to fly Cal’s ship, The Stinger Mantis, use force powers such as freezing enemies, using enemies against themselves, and using different lightsaber options such as dual blades, double-sided blades, and a saber that looks like Kylo Ren’s. Assassin’s Creed and even GTA use similar fighting styles, but their potential audience growth is nothing compared to Star Wars despite their large audiences.
Bringing it All Together
There seems to be a new beginning for Star Wars in becoming a real competitor in the world of video games. Due to the momentum gained by Jedi Fallen Order and the final updates to Battlefront 2, Jedi Survivor could be the Star Wars game that finally breaks into the Top 50 of all time.
If that occurs, other brands are likely to revolutionize their gaming again. Despite their loyal fanbases, Call of Duty, GTA, Halo, and other games have to stay one step ahead of Star Wars if they hope to grow their brands.
One possibility is that they develop smarter software that can track data on tendencies of players everywhere in a similar way that Cetaris is able to track their truck fleets and learn tendencies to improve trucking and shipping.
An improvement like this would give game developers new insights into less known tendencies of games and allow for gameplay to reflect and expose them.
Another possibility is to use VR (virtual reality) at a higher level. In spite of what larger brands like Star Wars may do, the first company to master this technology will set itself up for a bright future.
