Quantic Dream announced Star Wars Eclipse years ago, but we’ve barely heard anything about the project. Instead, the maker of Detroit: Become Human released a multiplayer MOBA called Spellcasters Chronicles that’s already preparing to shut down. Now, some Quantic Dream developers have recently gone on strike outside the office over the resulting layoffs, with one claiming that Star Wars Eclipse‘s development has been anything but smooth, and the ambitious narrative adventure now faces the potential risk of being canceled altogether.
“We believe that, as things stand, the game literally cannot be finished if the redundancy plan is implemented as currently scheduled,” one striking worker, Théo, told Gamekult. “We absolutely need the 115 people who have been inactive (or almost) for a month already. That’s a whole month of lost production! During that month, employees could have been trained on the specific tools of Star Wars Eclipse. We also want to strongly alert management and tell them to look at all these people who are eager to work but aren’t on the day of an official visit. “
The strike took place this week and was planned to coincide with a reported visit from Lucasfilm representatives to check in on the status of the game, Gamekult reported. The affected developers claim Quantic Dream’s plan to lay off 115 people will only jeopardize the project further. While the studio maintains that the layoffs are primarily impacting the team that worked on Spellcasters Chronicles, the workers argue that their expertise and skills are just as applicable to Star Wars Eclipse, a game they believe needs more development resources, not fewer.
“It’s far from being an act of sabotage. On the contrary, we’re trying to save Star Wars Eclipse,” another developer, Jules, told Gamekult of the decision to hold a strike. “We could manage to release it with 115 additional people, and that wouldn’t be ‘overstaffed’: it’s what’s needed. We’re understaffed, like in many other companies in the sector, because bosses know very well that passion will lead people to crunch time and [the] games will eventually be released. But it’s impossible to run a sustainable industry like that.”
“Development of Star Wars: Eclipse continues, and we are eager to share more with you in the future,” director David Cage wrote last fall, though some reports suggest the game is still years away from completion.
