Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order “would’ve been better” if Respawn had more time

Respawn Entertainment has opened up about the development of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, acknowledging the game’s unusual amount of bugs at launch last year. 

Speaking to USGamer at The DICE Awards, Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella touched upon the critically acclaimed hack ‘n’ slasher to a galaxy far, far away. Turns it was coming in hot ahead of Rise of the Skywalker and The Mandalorian dominating the social zeitgeist. 

“Yeah, it was a conversation that we had and we decided that we wanted the game out there, we wanted to get it, you know, being out for the holiday,” says Zampella. “It’s a game that really fits that timeframe,” he adds, touching on how massive Star Wars had become at the tail-end of last year. 

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Game director Stig Asmussen also added to the conversation: “I think we’re in a situation [where] we’re trying to build a game for several different systems and we wanted to hit a date, obviously,” says Asmussen. “We all look at it, and earnestly we feel like we could, if we had a little bit more time, it would’ve been better. But at the same time, we could play through it. It was good and we felt like fans were going to like it.”

It’s undercooked arrival certainly didn’t put players off though, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order having sold 8 million copies and counting, cementing itself as Respawn’s best-selling title to date. It’s a triumph for solo, narrative-driven adventures, and with any luck, will lead to a better, more polished sequel.

We scored Fallen Order a deserving 4/5 in our review, praising its excellent combat, breathtaking visuals and ample amounts of challenge: “Fallen Order is far from a masterpiece, but to say it could’ve been one without some of its basic flaws may not be so far fetched. As it is, you can look past the tame story and inconvenient bugs and instead revelling in joyous combat, awe-inducing cinematics and fluid platforming,” wrote Adam Speight.