Respawn, the developer behind Jedi: Fallen Order and Apex Legends , is making three new video games set in the Star War universe.
Alongside another entry in the Star Wars Jedi series, which is expected to be a follow-up to 2019’s Fallen Order, Respawn is also developing a Star Wars first-person shooter and a strategy game.
The Star Wars Jedi title will be helmed by game director Stig Asmussen, who previously worked on Fallen Order and God of War 3, EA announced .
Development of the untitled first-person shooter, meanwhile, is being led by Peter Hirschmann, who previously contributed to the original Star Wars: Battlefront games, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, and the first Medal of Honor. Work on the game has just started.
Respawn will also be developing a new Star Wars strategy game in collaboration with Bit Reactor, a newly-formed studio founded by developers of the XCOM and Civilization series. Greg Foerstch, who previously worked as art director on XCOM 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, as well as contributed to a slate of Civilization titles, will be leading the project.
“Working with Lucasfilm Games on a new FPS in the Star Wars galaxy is a dream come true for me, as this is a story I have always wanted to tell,” said Hirschmann.
“We are huge fans of Star Wars here at Respawn and we’re thrilled to work with Lucasfilm Games on new titles that we have wanted to make for years,” added Vince Zampella, the founder of Respawn, who will oversee the new titles.
EA gave no expected release dates or platform details about the upcoming games, other than saying work on all three has already begun.
Analysis: Star Wars can get the variety it deserves
For all its acclaim, popularity, and source material, Star Wars has had a mixed relationship with video games for the last several years. After Disney signed an exclusivity contract with EA in 2013, the publisher has had (practically) sole control over Star Wars video games, some of which have fared better than others.
But besides debacles like Battlefront 2’s aggressive loot box system and bug-ridden launch, EA’s Star Wars offerings have also been decidedly narrow. The 2020 flight sim Star Wars: Squadrons brought some variety to the roster, but each of EA’s recent video games set in the galaxy far, far away have been action-focused shooters (or lightsaber swingers). The news that Respawn has got three more Star Wars games in the works gives us some hope they’ll be different.
While we can expect the Jedi: Fallen Order follow-up to build upon the original’s Metroidvania gameplay and narrative emphasis, who knows where the other two untitled games will go. There’s every chance Respawn will lean into its expertise in kinetic combat, which it’s refined through the Titanfall series and Apex Legends, to produce a Star Wars FPS that goes beyond the regular competitive multiplayer shooting we’ve seen in the Battlefront series.
Similarly, the scope for a new Star Wars strategy title is immense. Whether the veterans at Bit Reactor lean into their experience of XCOM’s real-time tactics or Civilization’s turn-based 4X gameplay, any scale of strategy will be welcome. The last strategy game set in the Star Wars universe was Empire at War, and although its mix of RTS space warfare and grand campaigning was received well, it did release all the way back in 2006.
EA has played it safe over the last nine years. Its Star Wars games have been set in familiar locations, and made to appeal to the widest market. Given the sheer quantity of source material available, it can afford to be a little more outlandish, and Respawn’s current bet on Star Wars might be a sign of that.
The full Horizon Forbidden West game on PS4 has somehow leaked
An early build of Horizon Forbidden West has leaked online, specifically for the PlayStation 4 version.
According to VGC , the build is indeed legitimate and, while missing some art assets, contains all of the content that will be part of the final release.
A couple of screenshots have already begun making the rounds on social media platforms like Reddit . However, they don't appear to spoil anything and have been taken on someone's camera rather than through a direct feed.
The same images were also uploaded to Twitter but were soon taken down following a "report from the copyright holder," effectively confirming their legitimacy.
No spoilers, no problem?
The only takeaway from the leaked images seems to be that the PS4 version doesn't suffer compared to the PS5 version, which we already knew thanks to official screenshots shared by Guerrilla Games.
However, what this does mean is that actual spoilers could begin to make their way online ahead of the game's release in February. So, fans will have to be extra cautious when browsing certain sites.
It's unknown how this leak even happened in the first place, but it may have something to do with a recent PS4 hacking exploit. According to Eurogamer , hackers were able to jailbreak the console in December, allowing them to install homebrew apps and play unauthorised games. It would explain why a PS4 build is what leaked and not the PS5 version. Either that or a retail copy has somehow leaked early.
While we have seen plenty of footage of the PS5 version, with Guerrilla Games releasing short videos to highlight new enemies and the various tribes Aloy will encounter, there has been no dedicated PS4 footage to demonstrate how it performs. And Guerrilla only has a month to do so, with Horizon Forbidden West releasing on February 18.
This one major issue with Microsoft Teams is finally being fixed
Users of Microsoft Teams may finally be able to get through a meeting without being plagued by annoying notifications pings thanks to a new update to the service.
The company has confirmed that it will soon allow users to mute notifications whilst they are in a video conferencing meeting or don't want to be disturbed.
This should mean an end to distracting notifications or alerts when you’re in the middle of an important meeting, particularly as more and more businesses embrace hybrid working .
Mute notifications in Microsoft Teams
"The current experience of receiving notifications during meetings is highly distracting and there is no easy way to turn off these notifications making it highly painful for users," Microsoft's Joao Ferreira wrote in an M365 admin post announcing the news.
"This feature will introduce a setting to help the user turn OFF notifications during meetings."
If users want to allow certain notifications to come through, say if they are expecting an important email or alert, users can turn notifications on or off for a per meeting basis through the setting provided in the meeting tray.
By allowing users to specify which types of alerts they receive, the latest Teams update should help address common remote working issues that have been increasingly facing workers across the world.
Ferreira noted that the new addition is set to begin rolling out in early February, with most users set to have it ready by mid-March 2022. It will be available worldwide to all Microsoft Teams users across desktop and web.
In order to activate the setting, users need to click on the ellipsis next to their Microsoft Teams profile picture, then select global settings -> Notifications -> Meetings. Doing so will turn off notifications for all meetings.
News of the feature first emerged back in November 2021 , with Microsoft Teams enjoying a raft of useful updates since then. This includes the addition of chat bubbles so that users wouldn't miss private messages sent during a video call, both 1:1 or as part of a group call.