American video game company Electronic Arts officially confirmed Star Wars: Squadrons after Xbox inadvertently put up its image on their official website.
Electronic Arts (EA)—publisher of the most recent Star Wars title Jedi: Fallen Order—had pretty much no choice but to confirm the existence of an upcoming Star Wars title named Squadrons, after Microsoft’s blunder of prematurely advertising the title on Xbox’s website.
According to online gaming publication GameSpot, the ad showed the game’s name along with the message “pilot’s wanted” and a non-functional pre-order button. The image has since been taken down from the site.
Soon after, EA released an official announcement on Twitter with the same message, in addition to the exact date and time for Star Wars: Squadron’s reveal trailer which is set for later today, June 15, at 8:00 AM Pacific Time.
Pilots Wanted. Tune in for the reveal trailer of #StarWarsSquadrons this Monday, June 15th at 8:00 AM Pacific Time: https://t.co/ULwkIhQy2y pic.twitter.com/L0Z3jC2c3j
— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) June 12, 2020
Speculations about Squadron’s genre
There isn’t much to go on regarding what kind of game Squadron’s will be since Electronic Arts hasn’t revealed anything at all beyond the image and message shown in their recent tweet.
Though after reading their announcement about recruiting “pilots,” one can only assume that the game will most likely be a space battle/flight simulator based on the Star Wars universe.
Add that to the fact that the poster clearly shows two pilots in Rebel and Imperial uniforms, with X-Wings and TIE fighters in the foreground, giving the flight sim theory even more weight.
Pilots Wanted. Tune in tomorrow at 4pm for the reveal: https://t.co/lNhydGz6A5 pic.twitter.com/VkmSJwKLXO
— Star Wars UK (@StarWarsUK) June 14, 2020
It’s been almost two decades since 2003’s Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, the franchise’s last title that focused mostly on space battles, which will make it all the more interesting to see the genre’s return to form.
It isn’t the first time EA had troubles with its famed game franchise leaks, as Sony’s PlayStation Network also mistakenly showed off an image on Twitter of a game called Project Maverick. Further details about the project were never revealed, leading some to believe that Squadron and Maverick could be the same.
Looks like the new game reveal on June 2nd is EA Motive’s Star Wars: Project Maverick. pic.twitter.com/eZ8qVxIiNg
— The Slasher41 (@HotTakeMaster) May 28, 2020
Be like Jedi: Fallen Order
After EA’s infamous loot box controversy surrounding Star Wars-themed first-person shooter Battlefront 2, the video game giant went in a different direction with the latest game in the franchise Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
By handing the reins over to Respawn Entertainment—the development studio behind the critically acclaimed Titanfall series—they were able to craft a story-driven, single-player action-adventure title with thrilling combat and engaging exploration and platforming.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order succeeds as the first Star Wars game to truly understand the power of the lightsaber https://t.co/j029kx1Eqt
— OXM (@OXM) June 13, 2020
As a bonus, Jedi: Fallen Order was confirmed to be canon to the Star Wars universe, much to the delight of the game’s fans. Hopefully, EA will continue its recent trend of catering to the players first, and stay away from the temptation of adding money-grubbing loot boxes to anything. Ever.
Image courtesy of EA Star Wars/Twitter