This article was written by Azzatru and Bespin Bulletin.
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 will see a brand new Star Wars game revealed. Whilst not too much is known about the project currently, there are still some confirmed details which most people don’t know about. In this article we’ll be delving into everything that has been publicly said by the developers as well as some leaks.
Who are Bit Reactor and what can we expect from their Star Wars game?
Let’s get started with the genre of game and who is developing it. This currently unnamed Star Wars game is being developed by new and independent studio Bit Reactor. Along with help from Respawn Entertainment of the Star Wars Jedi games, this partnership is an exciting one – more details on the collaboration later.
Bit Reactor is not a name many will be familiar with. After all, they are a new studio who are yet to release a game. They are made up of some massive talent though.
Maryland-based Bit Reactor was co-founded by Greg Foertsch who served as an artist at Firaxis Games. His work can be seen across several Sid Meier’s Civilization and XCOM games. He was the art director on XCOM 2 and Marvel Midnight Suns.
Greg launched the company out of stealth mode on January 19th 2022 and has been CEO since. The studio announcement read “Bit Reactor’s central vision is to define the future of turn-based tactics games by weaving in the high-end production values, riveting storytelling and innovative design for a best-in-class gameplay experience for gamers worldwide.” This made it clear from day one they would be looking to develop a turn-based tactics game. That is exactly what they’ve been hard at work on since 2022.
Just days later, EA announced three new Star Wars games. One of them being Bit Reactor’s first release. It would be done in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment. The game has been in development for over 3 years now and is playtested every two weeks by the entire team.
So what are Respawn doing in all of this? They’re publishing the game and providing support in various ways such as their Star Wars game making knowledge. According to Foertsch, Respawn has treated Bit Reactor like internal team at the studio.
“They encourage collaboration and communication between teams. And so they’ve been just flat out the best experience I’ve ever had in publishing.”
In the past few years, the studio has staffed up both locally in Hunter Valley, Maryland and remotely. The talent who have joined the team range from strategy game veterans to artists who helped on beloved films such as Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. In terms of numbers, around a third (15 people) are ex-Firaxis.
Furthermore, some who worked at Respawn left the company to join Bit Reactor. These include the game’s narrative director Aaron Contreras. His previous work was leading the narrative on both Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor. Another example is art director Daanish Syed who previously led the UI team on Jedi: Survivor. Many job listings have noted Unreal Engine 5 experience required so it is safe to assume that will be engine this game is running on.
One of the most interesting things about this game is how Bit Reactor are independent and are working with Respawn in some capacity. This is exciting and a nice change. Every Star Wars game for well over a decade now has been made by a large publisher. Bit Reactor are not owned by another company such as EA. They are free to do as they please.
“They (Respawn) trust us to make the kind of game we know how to make” says Foertsch.
Bit Reactor have big ambitions. In a blog post shared late last year, they say “we want to create a game-of-the-year contender“. This starts with “fresh ideas and new approaches” hence why people from outside the strategy genre have been welcomed in.`
“Instead of trying to pick between worldbuilding, cinematics, systems and tactics, we’re asking ourselves: how can we take the best parts of each element and deliver something that blends immersive storytelling with top-notch tactical strategy?”
Daanish Syed revealed in an interview that the game will have a new visual language. It will be different to the “celestial star charts” design as seen in Jedi: Survivor but remain authentic to Star Wars. Syed explained “we’re gonna develop our own language that fits within Star Wars, but also feels unique to this game.”
In the same interview, technical director Ryan McFall shared “We want to support as many of the range of input devices as we can, just from an accessibility standpoint, and expanding the audience standpoint. We’re always thinking about the different ways that our users could interact with a title.”
What is an RTS video game?
It’s believed that Bit Reactor’s untitled Star Wars project is an RTS title which stands for realtime strategy. As mentioned previously, some of the developers at Bit Reactor previously worked on RTS titles before including XCOM. For those unaware of what XCOM games are like, here’s a quick rundown. It’s a sci-fi turn-based tactics franchise with several beloved installments. Players command a handful of troopers against aliens. Turns are taken to move and attack each other in close ranged ground combat. The games have single player campaigns with various missions. The maps are covered in a “fog of war” meaning you have to move out and seek enemies.
Star Wars mods have been extremely popular for XCOM as the community felt the IP would lend itself well to the game. And it has done via huge conversion packs for years.
When will Bit Reactor’s Star Wars game be revealed?
We’ll learn far more about this game from Bit Reactor and Respawn themselves very soon The reveal news was announced by Lucasfilm Games in March. There will be a panel titled “Bit Reactor Developer Panel featuring Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games” on Saturday April 19th at 4:30pm to 5:30pm.
The panel will feature Bit Reactor’s Greg Foertsch & Aaron Contreras plus Respawn’s Jim Vessella (known for his work on the Command & Conquer games). Also on the panel are Lucasfilm’s Kelsey Sharpe (Creative Executive) and Orion Kellogg (Games Executive Producer). GameSpot’s Lucy James will be moderating it.
What platforms will Bit Reactor’s Star Wars game be released on?
The only credible leak we have about the game is from a Twitter user called @bogorad222. They correctly leaked that the game would be revealed during Star Wars Celebration Japan. In the same leak, they claim the game is targeting a release on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Epic Games Store. However “the true lineup is TBD“.
When will Bit Reactor’s Star Wars game release?
There’s been no official word or leaks regarding the release date or window of Bit Reactor’s upcoming Star Wars title. If we look to the past to help inform the future.
Star Wars video games tend to release around the time of a live-action project. Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) and Battlefront II (2017) both released one month before a Star Wars movie in November 2015 and 2017, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released in November 2019, the same month as The Mandalorian season one and one month before The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor released one week after The Mandalorian season three finale and Star Wars: Outlaws one month after the The Acolyte series finale.
If Bit Reactor follow this pattern then it could suggest that the title could arrive in the rough window of The Mandalorian and Grogu’s release which is set for a May 22nd, 2026 release in theatres. Meaning that fans could see the untitled video game release around that time, between April and June of next year.
The length of time between an official reveal and release might seem like a lot, but it has become quite common for Star Wars video games. Jedi: Fallen Order, Survivor and Outlaws were all announced and revealed a year before they were released. So this tactic is not out of the ordinary.
Bit Reactor’s debut game is shaping up to be an exciting one. With the talent and experience behind it, there could be quite a fan-favourite Star Wars story to come.
“We believe there’s so much untapped potential here, from blending genres to experimenting with narratives that feel as impactful as any cinematic game. Imagine a strategy game where your tactical decisions influence not just the outcome of a battle, but the fate of individual characters, cities, or entire nations in deeply personal ways.“
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