The minds behind Titanfall and God of War 3 have found The Force.
Respawn Entertainment emerged in 2013, a collaboration between many of the ex-Infinity Ward developers responsible for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Their first game, Titanfall, arrived to a thunderous welcome as one of the first must-play titles of the the new console generation. While Titanfall 2 is currently in progress (with a full reveal set for June 12), Respawn also took time this week to confirm the major project that will follow in its’ heels — one taking place in a galaxy far, far away.
On May 4th, a blog post from Stig Asmussen appeared on Respawn.com, detailing the next project from Respawn as a “a third-person action/adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.” Asmussen was formerly the project lead on Sony Santa Monica’s God of War III. He joined Respawn in 2014.
The Star Wars project is still in the early stages of development with the post indicating that Respawn is looking to hire new talent to build the game. This marks the fourth major Star Wars game out of Electronic Arts — including Bioware’s The Old Republic MMO, DICE’s Battlefront, as well as the next game from Amy Hennig (Uncharted) and Jade Raymond (Assassin’s Creed).
Call of Duty is jumping into the future, as Battlefield retreats to the past
This was a huge week for military shooter debuts, with the leading two franchises in the industry facing off with dueling reveals. First up was Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. After years of playing around with ‘near-future’ concepts like exoskeletons, neural enhancements, and a horrifying digital bust of Kevin Spacey, the biggest series in video games is going full science fiction.
The introductory trailer boasts zero-gravity gunplay, seamless ground-to-space missions, and a cover of ‘Space Oddity’ that is just as inappropriate as it is terrible. It seems to be another classic Call of Duty spectacle, now with significantly more robots.
Of more interest to classic fans may be Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Remastered. A full remake of the 2007 classic that redefined a genre, Modern Warfare: Remastered features the original game’s campaign — plus 10 maps for multiplayer. But if you’re looking to fill that nostalgic buzz on the cheap, some bad news is in store. According to Activision, Modern Warfare Remastered will not be sold independently — rather only as a pack-in for the $80 ‘Legacy’ edition of Infinite Warfare. That decision did not sit well with fans of the classic game, who have bombarded the reveal trailer with over half a million dislikes on YouTube.
Meanwhile on the opposite end of humanity’s war timeline, EA unleashed the first details about the next Battlefield game which will be moving to the oft-ignored first World War. Titled Battlefield 1, the introductory trailer promises the same outstanding visual perfection DICE is known for, but applied to a whole new conflict. Trench warfare, mustard gas, and even Ottoman raiders on horseback inspire true awe. Battlefield 1 will be released on October 18th, on all current generation hardware.
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