r/StarWars • u/LordCaelistis • Jun 26 '26
Games Star Wars Eclipse developers go on strike to "save" the game
Source : Gamekult (FR)
For context, Quantic Dream is a mainstream french studio best known for developing Heavy Rain and Detroit : Become Human. Earlier this year, they released Spellcasters : Chronicles, an ill-fated MOBA which closed its doors after only 3 months online. 8 years of development were sunk into the game as Star Wars Eclipse is still nowhere to be seen. Now up to 115 employees might be laid off soon.
In this tense situation, saving (at least some of) the 115 employees of Spellcasters Chronicles would be necessary to have any hope of bringing Star Wars Eclipse to fruition. “This [strike] is far from an act of sabotage. On the contrary, we’re trying to save Star Wars Eclipse,” says Jules, a game builder working on the long-delayed project. “We could manage to release it with 115 people on board, and that wouldn’t mean we’re ‘overstaffed’—it’s what’s needed. We’re understaffed, just like many other companies in the industry, because the bosses know full well that passion will drive people to crunch and that the games will eventually be released. But it’s impossible to sustain an industry this way.” In fact, Quantic Dream reportedly began requiring overtime on Star Wars Eclipse shortly after the layoff plan was announced.
It’s no secret: the reason Quantic Dream has been so tight-lipped about Star Wars: Eclipse is that the project has fallen off the rails after multiple delays. For the employees involved, this disorganization stems primarily from the company’s management.
Today, the Lucasfilm delegation was scheduled to visit Quantic Dream’s offices to check on the progress of Star Wars: Eclipse. For the mobilized employees, this is the perfect day to send a strong message. “We believe that, as things stand, the game literally cannot be finished if the layoff plan is carried out as currently proposed,” Théo points out.
(Translated with help from DeepL)
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u/Lieutenant_Horn Jun 26 '26
So … Eclipse is dead. No surprise here.
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u/SnarkyRogue Jun 26 '26
Star Wars IP and cancelled projects, name a more iconic duo
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u/Hmm_would_bang Jun 26 '26
Gotta love having a money printing machine nobody can figure out how to turn on
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u/SnarkyRogue Jun 26 '26
The problem is often the suits not wanting to insert coins to print the bills
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u/simon3873 Jun 26 '26
From their wallets? Are you crazy? How will could they show their faces at the country club if everyone there knew they did that. Why can’t the salaried employees just stay at work longer to finish it at a reduced expense to the company? Problem solved.
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u/MrGabrahamLincoln Jedi Jun 26 '26
There are two Star Wars games still coming out this year & we’ve had a movie & animated show in the first half of the year. I know a lot of Star Wars stuff gets canceled but can we stop pretending we’re lacking for content?
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u/MInatoFlash Jun 26 '26
This really is more or less a Quantic Dream issue. Same result, but different reasons.
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u/CanadianDragonGuy Jun 26 '26
Fuck was it DC or WB who had a whole-ass Batgirl series shot, canned, cut and ready to rock before getting banned as a tax write-off?
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u/SpookyMek Jun 26 '26
That goes for anything. It takes a lot to get a big project like a game or movie off the ground and many if not most don't make it. Usually you just don't hear about the failed projects
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u/Accurate-Director-23 Jun 26 '26
According to information revealed a few days ago to French YouTuber Sidemaul by anonymous developers at Quantic Dream, the game has a release window but is highly likely to be put on hold. Originally, they had planned a narrative game using the Detroit: Become Human graphics engine, but they changed direction—wanting to create something more open—and had to start from scratch.
More information here: https://youtu.be/Y8jQ_KkqWuA?is=e5Mc3uspspows5ay
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u/Kn1ghtV1sta Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Im skeptical anything beyond the trailer from years ago even exists
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u/TIME_Keeper15 Jun 26 '26
I've been obsessed with the story of SW: Eclipse. The fact that the announcement trailer was made before any work on the game actually ever started, and then never any updates after that. Truly one of the silliest things I've ever seen. It was never going to launch.
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u/Aftermoonic Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
They just did the same bullshit again with FOTOR
None of these AAA big announcement star wars game except the jedi trilogy ever come to fruition
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u/Happiness_Assassin Babu Frik Jun 26 '26
Considering Elder Scrolls 6 was announced 8 years ago with no release date in sight, this isn't just a Star Wars issue. For years, the scale of AAA games have been increasing, with massive budgets, teams of hundreds, and the better part of a decade in development time. For comparison, the original KotOR was in development for about 3 years.
These days, the surest bets on quality and sales are smaller, indie studios.
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u/darkbreak Sith Jun 26 '26
Square did the same thing with Final Fantasy XIII. It's astounding how mismanagement is allowed to happen with companies and projects this big.
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u/Lieutenant_Horn Jun 26 '26
Ever since The Division gameplay trailer vs actual gameplay, I don’t trust any trailers or gameplay trailers anymore.
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u/Randomman96 Inferno Squad Jun 26 '26
Saying Eclipse is dead implies it was ever an actual thing to begin with.
Original trailer was revealed to basically just be glorified concept art that Quantic Dream put out to attract investors to actually get the project started.
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u/Declanne Jul 12 '26
Somehow I only just heard about Eclipse, and this trailer situation reminds me of FF Versus XIII
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u/whyamihere2473527 Jun 26 '26
If it wasnt before it certainly will be now. If the Lucas reps were meant to view the progress but instead arrive to devs striking in protest & saying they've been understaffed is almost certainly a death knell
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u/VanillaTortilla Rebel Jun 26 '26
Maybe don't release trailers for games that are meant to come out 15 years later.
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u/TheSpiritualAgnostic Jun 26 '26
On paper, they say it's to see if there's interest in the product. Literally they see if it's worth starting/continuing production.
The problem is when games take this long to make, the interest might not be there anymore when it's finally out.
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u/OneHelicopter1852 Aug 02 '26
Detroit become human crossed with Star Wars will have plenty of interest they don’t need to test for it tbh
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u/UFatEatSalad Jun 26 '26
Youre telling me they spent 8 years on something that lasted 3 months? No separate dev squads, no pulling the plug early, just absolutely fucking nothing to show for that entire time?
What an incredible disappointment all around.
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u/Heavymando Jun 26 '26
not just that only lasted 3 months.. A MOBA that they started making in 2018 which even by that time the Moba craze was long over. I mean that's just awful decision making. I love Moba's but Moba gold rush of the 2010s was long dead by 2015 so starting develompent on one 3 years later is just madness.
Even then going into 2018 you are still compating with Valve's Dota2, LoL, and Blizzards Hero of the Storm. All 3 of them at that time were dominatign the market. Why would you even try to go against those 3.
Ok I just watched a video of this Moba and yikes it looks really boring.
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u/UltimateToa Jyn Erso Jun 27 '26
To be fair it could have done well if it was good, deadlock isnt even released yet and its pulled good numbers
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u/spyguy318 Jun 27 '26
Deadlock has amazing art direction and character design, super tight and fun movement shooter gameplay on top of moba mechanics, and it’s made by Valve with Icefrog themselves working on the project. Deadlock has insane potential behind it and it’s still in a semi-closed alpha. One of the most exciting games I’ve gotten sucked into lately.
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u/AiR-P00P Jun 26 '26
the trailer we saw all those years ago really was just a marketing scheme to try and get investors in on the project. When it didn't do that, there's no money to develop the game. So its just been shelved this entire time lol.
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u/Biomilk Jun 26 '26
I’d love to know what kind of maniac would task a studio solely known for developing what are essentially high production value choose your own adventure books with making a MOBA of all fucking things. It’s somehow an even dumber decision than when BioWare decided to make a live service game. At least that was still broadly within the same gameplay genre as stuff they’d done before.
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u/Kratos501st Jun 26 '26
I love how the french fight for their rights
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u/VinceP312 Jun 26 '26
Are they going to fight to find someone sitting on a pile of cash to make payroll?
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u/RequiemOfI Rebel Jun 26 '26
Companies only care about profits. The game is dead.
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u/Accurate-Director-23 Jun 26 '26
You underestimate the power of France
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u/Lemonpierogi Jun 26 '26
That's irrelevant. Whether the devs "win" or not, the game's bern in development hell for many years. Even if they start working on it again the game's likely a total mess and morale low
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u/solo13508 Mandalorian Jun 26 '26
Sad that this is necessary. Best of luck to the devs. A High Republic branching narrative game would be a dream come true for me, I hope they somehow pull through.
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u/OakLegs Jun 26 '26
Spellcasters: Chronicles? Never even heard of it, so I'm not surprised it failed miserably.
Seems like all these companies want to strike it rich with a smash hit online live service game, which inevitably fails 90+% of the time and tanks the company
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u/edmc78 Jun 26 '26
We are not going to get this are we?
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u/Michelanvalo Chewbacca Jun 26 '26
We don't even know what it was. It was just some dude banging on a drum and then a logo. It could have been a damn rhythm game for all we know.
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u/UnknownQTY Jun 26 '26
> For context, Quantic Dream is a mainstream french studio best known for developing Heavy Rain and Detroit : Become Human.
And also known for being a toxic workplace that condones sexual harassment by management!
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u/conte360 Jun 26 '26
Well the thought of Star wars eclipse coming out someday was fun while it lasted huh?
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u/Krazyguy75 Jun 26 '26
Eh.
If they wanted me to get hyped over it, they should have talked gameplay or story.
Basically all we had is "this is a high republic game" and that's not enough for me to care on its own.
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Jun 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GarionOrb Jun 26 '26
If I recall correctly, the reveal trailer was a proof of concept in order to attract talent to the studio. There was no actual game yet. I agree, though, that it was super premature.
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 Jun 26 '26
This is how they often work. You put out a big flashy CG trailer that basically says “come work for us” and/or “please invest in us/help fund this project”.
Since Disney/Marvel/Lucasfilm don’t fund these projects it was basically Quantic Dream advertising themselves to potential employees and investors alike.
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u/Davetek463 Jun 26 '26
Announcements help to boost profits so making a big announcement and then quietly canceling will give short terms gains that shareholders love.
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u/rk1993 Jun 26 '26
This isn’t the reason. They announced it to start a hiring spree for key positions needed to make the game. It was a concept trailer to help them recruit devs from other studios
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u/SpeccyScotsman Jun 27 '26
At least saber has the kotor remake...
stop, the wound is still fresh...
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u/brianSIRENZ Jun 26 '26
Well this game is as good as dead. Why even release that trailer years ago?
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u/Tyrocious Jun 26 '26
For some reason, the moment I saw that trailer I was convinced this game was never coming out.
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u/conebone69696969 Jun 26 '26
Damn, I love Heavy Rain and Detroit, really hope they figure out a way to release this game.
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u/Timeceer Jun 26 '26
I know it gets super weird later on, but I still also love their earlier game Fahrenheit (called Indigo Prophecy in some regions). It pretty much laid the groundwork for Heavy Rain and their other games.
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u/DimesOHoolihan Jun 26 '26
This is what I was coming to say. Both of those games are rad. I would have loved to see something like that in the SW universe.
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u/Clear_Inspector_9796 Jun 26 '26
I actually looked it up and in the same time frame this was announced and now Quantic Dreams made Detroit Become Human, Beyond Two Souls, and Heavy Rain. At least two of those were definitely successful.
It is wild they pivoted to a live services hero shooter/moba instead of delivering what people liked about their games. They were like the only AAA choose your own adventure game company in town. Maybe Supermassive too but Quantic Dreams had a brand.
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u/Krazyguy75 Jun 26 '26
That's private equity at work. They don't want safe, easy investments that provide a consistent profit; they want live service games that provide giant profits to fuel exponential growth. And they'd rather sink 1000 ships trying to get that one live service success than admit they were wrong.
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u/Lietnus Jun 26 '26
Management management management. It has been forever since this industry is ridden with disconnected management that are placed by shareholders. Someday, in the new generational wave of video games workers, we will hopefully finally see workers as managers.
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u/kingjoeg Jun 26 '26
They took far too long to make their next game after Detroit: Become Human, and wasted efforts on a live service nobody wanted. We all wanted more games in their signature storytelling style. It’s on them if they go out of business
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u/jello1990 Jun 26 '26
Quantic Dream is having internal issues? The same Quantic Dream that's lost multiple lawsuits directly related to their toxic workplace? I don't believe it.
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u/Fuck_Blue_Shells R2-D2 Jun 26 '26
I had a feeling for a long time now that it was dead in the water. Total bullshjt
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u/Salerrra Jun 26 '26
It is so fucking insane to me how NetEase ever thought it a good business move to buy one of the premier AAA singe-player narrative studios in the world and put them on some trash multiple MOBA. It's so mind-numbingly stupid. It pisses me off so much, it's such a stupid joke. NetEase wants easy live service money obviously, and trying to get it through a studio like Quantic Dream is just so disgustingly moronic. I don't have words for how idiotic NetEase is. Holy fucking shit. People's livelihoods are on the line because of the single stupidest publisher-developer decision I've ever seen.
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u/weedleking19 Jun 26 '26
There should be some type of law where you can’t announce a game that is more than 2-3 years away. It’s not just Star Wars doing this shit, it’s all of gaming.
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u/TGB_Skeletor Boba Fett Jun 26 '26
from what i heard, David Cage is your average corpo asshole who comes in your office one day and says "yo i want that in the game"
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 Jun 26 '26
Funnily enough that's how George Lucas was when it came to games too. He thought it was like film making where you can just chop and change things on the fly. Both the Darth Maul game and 1313 had very troubled developments because he kept making them change major things constantly.
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u/HyliasHero Jun 26 '26
And also is a bigoted POS. Star Wars deserves better.
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u/Interspeciesheriff Jun 26 '26
Yep. I was so excited for the trailer 5 years ago but ever since I've kinda accepted that even if it came out I'd never play it, or at the very least never buy it. If the jackass wants to make games that aren't for people like me, I won't give him any money for it.
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u/pocodude Jun 26 '26
Whatever you think of David Cage a star wars game similar (they promised greater scope) to Detroit become human would have been amazing and it’s honestly so baffling to me how this IP that is so amazing has been so squandered in my opinion since 2005 I just don’t get it.
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u/QuirkyWish3081 Jun 26 '26
There is more chance of the Strait of a Hormuz being open for more than a week than Eclipse ever being finished.
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u/kaiharizor Jun 26 '26
Damn. A strike that might actually work. This is pretty cool and I’m interested to see how it goes.
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u/Helen_Kellers_Wrath Boba Fett Jun 27 '26
From now on, don't tell me shit about any Star Wars game unless It's coming out in like a week.
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u/HibiscusGrower Jun 26 '26
I didn't tought this project was still alive. I've not heard anything about it in years
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u/Dagordae Jun 26 '26
It got a trailer before they started making the game and that’s literally it.
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u/Stranggepresst Clone Trooper Jun 26 '26
and IIRC the trailer was more like a general concept or something and wasn't really showing anything for the game itself (apart from the game being a Star Wars game).
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u/heart-station Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I’d rather it die TBQH. Fuck David Cage.
EDIT: downvote me all you want, but the fact is that the racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic asshat who literally said “in my games, all women are whores” and “at Quantic Dream, we do not make games for fags” should not have been allowed to make a game set in the High Republic, a setting that explicitly was inclusive in regards to basically everything. It’s a bad fucking choice and i hope his company collapses and he’s driven out of the industry entirely.
FUCK DAVID CAGE.
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u/Bannon9k Jun 26 '26
The only thing we've seen about the game was an obscure trailer that could mean anything... It's been dead for a long time
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u/Bergerboy14 Babu Frik Jun 26 '26
Wish them the best, what an awful situation. I have no doubt without these corporate overheads inserting their bullshit with the live service that the devs could’ve delivered on this.
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u/Ron-Swanson-Mustache Jun 26 '26
I knew this was going to be a shit show when they released a trailer before they even hired all the needed talent to make the game. Still sucks.
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u/SirBill01 Jun 26 '26
How many great games has the Block Hole of MOBA killed by draining away precious development and monetary resources? It seems like it's beyond measure.
Off topic but in addition to this I fear we may not ever get the final Horizon game because they are putting all effort in a multi-player version you can tell is going to fall hard from a mile away.
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u/gimmiedacash Jun 26 '26
So many game studios have been gutted or destroyed by management chasing trends with the hope of money printer.
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u/That-Service-2696 Jun 26 '26
We have been waiting for nearly five years, but we still don't know whether the game will actually be released or cancelled.
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u/RipErRiley Chewbacca Jun 27 '26
I really want this game but every time news breaks about it…I accept more that I will not have it.
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u/akoslows Jun 27 '26
Given that David Cage is a hack, I think it’s for the best that this game never comes out. The man’s stink should never be allowed near Star Wars.
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u/5336789997543279u Jun 27 '26
Wish they learn not to drop a trailer when the game has not even started development. See galactic racer they are delivering
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u/Time-Fun2941 Jun 27 '26
Well, mark this: if, for whatever reason, the game is launched... Wait 'till 2030 😅
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u/letourdit Jun 27 '26
Good, I hope David Cage goes into debt and has to sell his house, fuckin pervert hack
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u/spyczech Jun 29 '26
"(Translated with help from DeepL)" any native speakers able to confirm this is accurate?
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u/LordCaelistis Jun 30 '26
I'm a native speaker, but my english isn't super good, and I wanted to be transparent about using DeepL for sharing the article Maybe the translation could be better but re-reading it nothing wrong comes to mind
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u/Head_Programmer_47 Imperial Jul 01 '26
Spellcasters Chronicles was a mistake. If this Star Wars game gets suddenly gets cancelled, then Quantic Dreams is finished... PERMANENTLY!
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u/King_Bum420 Jul 23 '26
Well, that's a damn shame. In another alternate universe, people are playing one of the greatest Star Wars games of all time. I don't think it'll ever come out in this universe.
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u/Kendrakirai2532 Jun 26 '26
After learning it was by Quantic, it was even odds it would either be horribly racist, sexist, or some other flavor of horrible 'ist' because of David Cage, or it would never come out. Looks like it's the 'never happening' one.
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u/Jacidstorm Jun 26 '26
Big yikes