Developers working on Star Wars: Eclipse, the long-in-development game from Quantic Dream, are on strike in an attempt to salvage the game itself and stop the studio from laying off 115 workers.
Earlier this year, the French studio best known for its hit single-player offerings (Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Detroit Become Human) put its competitive multiplayer game called Spellcasters Chronicles into early access, which swiftly got shut down and abandoned a few weeks after. At the time, Quantic Dream said it would go through a reorganization as a result.
As reported on by GameKult, developers working at the studio have now gone on strike to stop management from laying off 115 people. The industrial action is said to coincide with a visit from Lucasfilm, the studio in charge of a galaxy far, far away. Some strikers told the outlet they were also attempting to save Star Wars: Eclipse's shaky production, as the game allegedly can't be completed without the 115 employees in danger of losing their jobs.
"It's far from being an act of sabotage," one striking worker said, (thanks, Eurogamer). "On the contrary, we're trying to save Star Wars Eclipse. 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 that games will eventually be released. But it's impossible to run a sustainable industry like that."
Another worker involved in the industrial action said development of Star Wars: Eclipse is unlikely to wrap up should Quantic Dream's redundancy plan go ahead, and alleged overtime had begun at the studio after layoffs plans were announced: "We absolutely need the 115 people who have been inactive (or almost) for a month already. That's a whole month of lost production."
Star Wars: Eclipse was revealed in 2021, and we haven't seen much of the game since. Quantic Dream have on several occasions said the project is "very different" to the branching, choose-your-own-adventure-style blockbusters that have defined the studio so far.
In the meantime, here are the very best Star Wars games you can play right now.
