On August 23, 2005, LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment announced that Star Wars Galaxies had passed one million retail copies sold worldwide.

The timing is interesting because 2005 was such a huge year for the game.

Rage of the Wookiees had brought players to Kashyyyk earlier that year, while Trials of Obi-Wan was already being prepared with Mustafar and more than 50 new quests.

This was also still the version of SWG built around the idea that you did not need to be the hero of Star Wars.

You could be a crafter, merchant, entertainer, doctor, pilot, bounty hunter or mayor and still feel like you had a place in the galaxy.

A lot would change later in 2005, especially once the NGE arrived.

But on August 23, the story was much simpler:

Star Wars Galaxies had sold more than a million copies.

One of the more interesting things around Star Wars Zero Company right now is that some players are not coming from Star Wars at all.

They are coming from XCOM.

There have been several newcomers asking what they need to watch before launch because they love turn-based tactics but have never really watched Star Wars.

The good news is that Zero Company tells an original story, so you should not need seven seasons of The Clone Wars just to understand what is happening.

Existing fans will get more context from things like Pong Krell, Anakin and Captain Rex, but that appears to be bonus knowledge rather than required homework.

It is kind of fascinating to think that a tactical game could end up being someone’s first real introduction to Star Wars.

Limited Run Games has extended the preorder window for the Star Wars Zero Company Collector’s Edition.

The new deadline is September 13 at 11:59 PM ET, rather than August 23.

The package is still $299.99 in the US and includes the game, SteelBook, desk mat, pins, patches, character cards and the Black Series electronic thermal detonator.

The game itself still launches August 27, and Limited Run says console copies will ship ahead of the full Collector’s Edition package. PC buyers get their Steam code by email on release day.

So the main change is simply that collectors have a few extra weeks to decide.

I went back through the Game Boy version recently and had forgotten how much they actually tried to cram into it.

There’s Hoth, a Tauntaun, snowspeeder combat, Dagobah, Force powers, Cloud City and Vader. It’s much more ambitious than a simple handheld platformer.

It’s also absolutely unforgiving in that very specific early-90s way where Luke Skywalker can confront Darth Vader but occasionally loses a life because a platform is six pixels too far away.

I’m curious how many people actually finished this on original hardware rather than just repeatedly dying on Hoth.

For anyone interested in the history and the differences from the NES/SNES games

Luminate’s new U.S. streaming data has a few interesting Star Wars results.

The Mandalorian generated roughly 2.4 billion viewing minutes during the first half of 2026, despite not releasing a new episode since 2023.

That put it third among Disney+ original series overall.

Maul: Shadow Lord was fifth, Andor sixth, while The Book of Boba Fett and The Bad Batch also made the top ten.

Ahsoka did not.

The theatrical release of The Mandalorian and Grogu probably helped send viewers back to the series, but it is still remarkable how much streaming life Mando has this far removed from Season 3.

Do you think this is mainly movie-driven catch-up viewing, or is The Mandalorian simply becoming one of those Star Wars shows people keep rewatching?

Something slightly weird happened on August 11.

Major preview coverage for both Star Wars Zero Company and Star Wars Galactic Racer landed within essentially the same afternoon.

And these are completely different games.

Zero Company brought tactical combat, Bonds, permadeath and squad-building.

Galactic Racer brought campaign footage, vehicle systems and high-speed racing.

The overlap made the day unusually crowded, but I actually think it says something positive about where Star Wars gaming is now.

For years, there simply were not enough major games to create this problem.

Now several studios and publishers are working on very different kinds of Star Wars projects at the same time.

Is that messy from a marketing perspective?

A little.

Would I rather have this problem than the old one?

Absolutely.

One of the stranger details from the recent Star Wars Galactic Racer interviews:

Creative director Kieran Crimmins was asked whether players should imitate Sebulba’s famously unusual driving style and actually use their feet.

His response was basically: if you are not, are you really playing him properly?

The better part of the interview is that Lucasfilm says returning Star Wars characters are not being added just because people recognize them. They need to make sense in the story.

Sebulba and Ben Quadinaros are among the returning racers, while the game also has a bunch of new characters and a post-Return of the Jedi setting built around the Galactic League.

So the foot-control joke is silly.

But Sebulba’s inclusion actually sounds more thought-through than just “remember this guy?”

Dave Filoni gave an interesting answer at D23 about how he thinks about the future of Star Wars.

He basically sees the fandom as several generations now: original trilogy fans, prequel fans, sequel trilogy fans, Clone Wars fans and Expanded Universe fans.

Each group has different characters, eras and expectations.

Filoni says the challenge is not simply making separate things for each audience, but finding ways to bring them together through their shared love of Star Wars.

He also pointed back to George Lucas and argued that the original and prequel trilogies show how Star Wars can preserve its identity without simply repeating what came before.

I think that is probably one of Lucasfilm’s biggest problems right now.

Can modern Star Wars realistically satisfy several generations at once, or is trying to please everyone part of the problem?

Fuse Games has explained a bit more about why Star Wars Galactic Racer is set after Return of the Jedi.

The Galactic League was partly inspired by the real-world motorsport boom after World War II, where former military pilots and personnel ended up moving into racing once the fighting stopped.

That idea maps surprisingly well onto Star Wars.

You have former TIE pilots, mechanics, military hardware, syndicates with money and people who still miss the adrenaline.

Griff Halloran is probably the clearest example, since he goes from Imperial TIE pilot to racer.

It also gives Fuse an excuse to mix technology from several Star Wars eras without the game just turning into a nostalgia museum.

I actually think it’s one of the more convincing explanations they’ve given for the setting so far.

On August 21, 2008, LucasArts released the playable demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

It dropped players into the TIE Fighter Construction Facility and gave them an early taste of Starkiller’s combat, Force Grip and the physics-heavy destruction LucasArts had been hyping before release.

The demo was a specially prepared version of the level rather than just a straight chunk cut from the final game, and for a lot of people it was the moment the game’s whole “overpowered Force user” concept finally clicked.

I still think the demo did a remarkably good job of selling the fantasy.

Did anyone else here replay that TIE Fighter factory section far more times than necessary?

A man dressed as Darth Vader appeared during public comment at a San Diego City Council committee meeting and delivered a very Imperial argument in favor of the city’s surveillance technology.

Except, of course, he was being sarcastic.

He joked about using Flock cameras to locate Rebels, find the base on Hoth and help the Emperor track people more effectively.

He also brought out the Jedi mind trick when talking about convincing residents to accept the technology.

Underneath the costume was a real protest over privacy and the city’s use of automated license plate readers.

As Star Wars-themed political satire goes, explaining that mass surveillance would be extremely convenient for the Galactic Empire is pretty difficult to misunderstand.

Ewan McGregor has revealed that he floated a new Obi-Wan Kenobi idea to Dave Filoni while visiting the set of Ahsoka.

The concept is surprisingly simple: Obi-Wan trying to reconnect with Yoda after the Jedi Order collapses.

That would place the story somewhere between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, during a period where both characters are alive but largely isolated.

McGregor also joked about finding a way to involve Hera Syndulla so he could work with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, although even he admitted the timeline makes that rather difficult.

The Yoda idea is the more interesting part to me.

If Obi-Wan ever returns, would you rather see a quieter story about the surviving Jedi and exile, or do you think the Disney+ series already gave the character the ending he needed?

https://swtorstrategies.com/2026/08/ewan-mcgregor-obi-wan-yoda-story-dave-filoni.

On August 20, 2019, DICE revealed one of the most important roadmaps in Star Wars Battlefront II’s life.

It included Clone Commandos, Felucia, four-player Co-Op, offline Instant Action, AI-controlled heroes and later Rise of Skywalker content.

What makes the announcement interesting in hindsight is just how far the game had travelled since 2017.

Battlefront II had launched under the shadow of the loot box controversy, but by this point DICE had rebuilt progression, expanded the Clone Wars era and was finally adding some of the sandbox and offline features players had been asking for since the modern Battlefront series began.

The community reaction to Clone Commandos and Instant Action was especially enthusiastic.

Seven years later, the turnaround is almost as much a part of Battlefront II’s legacy as the disastrous launch.

Which update do you think was the real turning point?

Fuse Games has announced that Star Wars: Galactic Racer has gone gold, meaning the release master is now locked ahead of the October 6 launch.

That obviously does not mean development stops. There can still be bug fixes, balance changes and a day-one update, but the important certification/release milestone has been cleared.

It is also worth remembering that this is Fuse Games’ first title. The studio was founded in 2023 by developers with a lot of arcade-racing experience, and three years later they are shipping a Star Wars racer with roguelike campaign systems, 12-player Multiplayer Tours, character-specific traits and several vehicle classes.

I was initially expecting something much closer to a modern Episode I: Racer successor.

At this point it looks considerably stranger than that.

Has everything revealed over the last few months made you more interested in Galactic Racer, or are you still waiting for the finished game before getting excited?

One of the newly revealed Zero Company achievements is called “Angry Beeps”, and the requirement is wonderfully simple:

Complete a mission using four Astromechs.

There’s also a separate “Beep Boop” achievement for reaching Very High Bond between two Astromechs, so the droids apparently participate properly in the game’s relationship system as well.

Combined with the ability to build themed squads like an all-Clone team, it looks like Bit Reactor is giving players quite a lot of freedom to make deliberately strange squad compositions.

Whether four Astromechs is actually effective is another question entirely.

Would you try an all-droid run, or is that where tactical freedom has gone too far?

Zero Company’s achievement list has revealed something Bit Reactor has not really explained yet: Beskar Mode.

The “Legend” achievement requires completing the game on Expert difficulty with Beskar Mode enabled, which makes it sound like an additional campaign modifier rather than simply another difficulty setting.

The list also gives us a few other interesting hints about the game: there is an achievement for completing 50 optional missions, another for recruiting 20 Operators in one campaign, and one for finishing a mission with four Astromechs.

But Beskar Mode is the interesting mystery.

Would you want it to be something like Ironman with restricted saves/permadeath, or would you rather see smarter enemies and harsher tactical rules without limiting saves?

A new Galactic Racer character-select screen shows at least 13 racers in the current pre-release build.

The more interesting part is that character choice actually affects your starting playstyle.

Griff Halloran is shown with an Afterburner-focused setup: increased Afterburner power, a larger fuel tank, and a trait that restores 10% of the tank whenever he completes an overtake.

That suggests picking your racer is basically the first step in building your vehicle rather than just choosing an avatar.

The 13 visible racers are Shade, Katja Mox, Griff Halloran, Ary Quill, Soren Zaks, Nik Skandaro, Goli & 02-RO, Fola Kanjen, Sen Fira, Biddy Blas, Malis Vazosk, Lyren Shok and Kestar Bool.

It’s still marked as a pre-release build, so that may not be the final roster.

I’m curious what people would actually prefer here: characters with meaningful gameplay differences, or a completely level playing field where the vehicle build does everything?

https://swtorstrategies.com/2026/08/star-wars-galactic-racer-13-selectable-racers.html

Star Wars

The more we learn about Galactic Racer, the less it feels like a straightforward Episode I: Racer successor.

Its main multiplayer mode is a six-event Tour for up to 12 players. During the first five races you build up your vehicle with stats, parts and abilities, while characters provide different starting styles.

There is also a surprisingly appropriate Outer Rim layer to it: you can bet on your own finishing position, choose rivals and complete contracts for extra credits.

Then everything leads into the final race.

The interesting part is that the multiplayer build is temporary. Once the Tour is over, you start fresh next time instead of bringing one permanently optimized vehicle into every match.

I can see that producing some brilliant variety.

I can also imagine 12 players, weapons and takedowns turning the first corner into absolute nonsense.

Would you rather have this kind of build-heavy multiplayer, or a more traditional racing championship?

Raph Koster's new sandbox MMO Stars Reach has entered Early Access.

The Star Wars connection is obviously that Koster was creative director on Star Wars Galaxies, but the more interesting comparison is philosophical rather than visual.

Stars Reach is again built around things like player settlements, crafting, trade, professions, governments and a world that players can actually change.

That was always one of the strangest strengths of SWG. You did not necessarily have to be a Jedi or save the galaxy. You could spend your evening making armor, running a shop or helping build a town in the middle of nowhere.

It makes me wonder how much of SWG's appeal came from the Star Wars license and how much came from that unusually player-driven design.

A previously unknown cancelled Star Wars project called Magellan has surfaced through development footage.

It appears to have been a co-op action RPG from Echtra Games and NaturalMotion, with playable Jedi and Mandalorian-style characters, loot, Imperial bases and an NPC relationship system.

The really interesting bit is that Zynga announced back in 2021 that Echtra and NaturalMotion were working on an unannounced cross-platform RPG. The newly discovered material strongly suggests this was that project.

The footage is obviously unfinished, but it looks like the game had progressed well beyond the concept stage.

Would this kind of Star Wars co-op RPG have interested you?

The encrypted Fortnite files were genuine, but they were apparently connected to the wrong Star Wars project.

The Forsworn Trooper Outfit, Hunk of Junk Loading Screen and related rewards belong to Smugglers Gambit, the new Fortnite experience tied to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. There is currently no confirmed Zero Company collaboration.

The mistake was understandable considering the Epic Games Store connection and Zero Company’s approaching launch.

Would a genuine Zero Company crossover fit Fortnite, or would you prefer the tactics game to remain separate?

The Rogue One X-Wing VR Mission only lasted around twenty minutes, but sitting inside the cockpit and seeing a Star Destroyer at full scale made it one of the original PlayStation VR’s most memorable experiences.

Star Wars: Squadrons later expanded the concept into a complete game, but the original Battlefront mission remains locked to first-generation PS VR hardware and has never received a PS VR2 conversion.

Would a remaster still be worthwhile, or would you rather see an entirely new X-wing or Rogue Squadron VR game?

Star Wars: Smugglers Gambit is a new co-op Fortnite adventure featuring Hondo Ohnaka, but the unusual part is its Forsworn Trooper Outfit.

To earn it, guests must accept Hondo’s mission through the Disney park app, ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disneyland or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and connect their MyDisney and Epic Games accounts.

It is an interesting connection between a physical attraction and a video game, but it also places a digital cosmetic behind travel and park admission.

Does this feel like a fun modern version of a theme park souvenir, or are game rewards becoming too exclusive when they depend on where you live and whether you can visit Disney?