Creating Star Wars Outlaws: An Open-World Scoundrel Adventure with Massive Entertainment

Hey everyone! As a huge Star Wars fan and gamer, getting to dive into the development process of Star Wars Outlaws has been an absolute dream. This isn't just another Jedi story or a tale of galactic rebellion—this is about the underworld, the scoundrels, and the petty thieves just trying to survive. And who better to build this massive, lived-in world than Massive Entertainment, the studio behind The Division and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora? But let me tell you, applying their open-world expertise to the Star Wars universe came with its own unique set of challenges. How do you stay authentic to Star Wars while telling a completely new kind of story?

From The Division to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

So, how did Massive Entertainment approach creating a Star Wars game? According to creative director Julian Gerighty, it wasn't about directly appealing to fans of their previous games. After finishing The Division 2 and the Warlords of New York expansion, the team got the chance to pitch to Lucasfilm Games. For Gerighty, a lifelong Star Wars fan, this was a childhood dream come true! 🚀

The key question was: "What fits?" They wanted to leverage their experience in creating complex, nonlinear worlds and co-op narratives while stretching into new territory. The answer? An open-world game focused on a scoundrel archetype, featuring vehicles and spaceflight—things they hadn't fully explored before. They deliberately avoided just making a Star Wars reskin of The Division. They wanted a bigger creative challenge to keep the team fresh and excited.

The "No Jedi, No Empire" Rule

One of the first and most important decisions was setting the game's scope and tone. This was decided organically and very early—maybe by day two of development! The team chose to tell an outlaw story. This meant no Jedi, no Empire vs. Rebellion grand narrative. This focus on the galactic underworld provided a creative framework that was both limiting and liberating. It allowed the team to explore new corners of the Star Wars universe while ensuring everything felt authentic.

But how do you ensure authenticity? This is where Lucasfilm Games came in.

Collaboration with Lucasfilm: Freedom Within a Framework

Gerighty emphasized that everything was consulted with Lucasfilm. They provided an "enormous amount of freedom" but were laser-focused on maintaining the authenticity of Star Wars. It was the best of both worlds. Massive pitched their vision: an open-world team passionate about creating detailed worlds and telling a scoundrel story. Lucasfilm responded by proposing the Original Trilogy timeline, which the team immediately loved.

Working with Lucasfilm was a humbling experience. Gerighty joked, "You think you know Star Wars? You don't know Star Wars." The process of learning Star Wars's design principles—its simplicity and iconic feel—made the entire team level up their craft in designing worlds, objects, blasters, ships, and speeders.

And as a fan, what was the coolest part for Gerighty? Creating iconic Star Wars assets from scratch! Getting to design a blaster for a hero, a speeder, a spaceship, and the creature Nix was a dream come true. The team even spent hours poring over archives of original movie storyboards for inspiration.

Striking the Right Tone: A Family-Friendly Throwback

A crucial balance had to be struck between gameplay mechanics and the "rules" of the Star Wars universe. Early on, Lucasfilm suggested—and the team agreed—that tonally, this wouldn't be a "dark" Star Wars. While mature Star Wars stories are possible, Massive wanted a throwback to the feel of the Original Trilogy.

They were inspired by the matinee action serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, and big, family-friendly adventure movies from the 70s, 80s, and 90s like Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean. These films aren't dark or gritty, but they can be thrilling and even scary. Gerighty mentioned showing Jurassic Park to his four-year-old daughter, who was still traumatized! That's the tone they aimed for: action-packed but not gratuitously violent. You can have intense gunfights without sprays of blood, focusing on fun, adventurous action.

Visual Inspiration: Capturing the Retro-Future Feel

When it came to visual inspiration, the biggest influence outside the Original Trilogy was Rogue One. The team was amazed at how that film captured the 70s and 80s aesthetic of Star Wars while feeling fresh with modern technology. This led to a major technical innovation: the creation of a custom "lens" within their Snowdrop engine.

This lens applies cinematic effects like vignetting, lens breathing, chromatic aberration, and lens flares to the image, giving it the feel of a 1970s camera lens but rendered with today's tech. The game is even presented in an ultrawide aspect ratio by default to enhance that cinematic quality. Rogue One's approach to production design was a huge guide.

Meet Nix: More Than Just a Gameplay Mechanic

A standout feature is Kay Vess's companion, the creature Nix. The core idea was simple: "How do we give Kay extra-human reach, but not superpowers?" The answer was a long third arm that could distract enemies, attack, set off smoke bombs, or grab weapons. This quickly evolved into the idea of a companion creature.

Then came the "soft values": Nix's cuteness, fierceness, and overall look and feel. The goal was to make Nix adorable and integral to the character, not just a gameplay tool. But it always started with the gameplay question: "How do we give players more control over the situation, the battlefield, the location?" Nix is the key to that.

Defining the Scope: A Seamless Scoundrel Adventure

From day one, the core concept was a seamless, open-world scoundrel adventure. The team wanted players to travel seamlessly from a city to the wilderness, to space, to orbit, engaging in discovery and combat without loading screens. Figuring out how to make all those elements compelling was the hard part.

With a massive team of around 600 people spread across the globe, they had to carefully define the game's scope. They settled on a specific number of planets, each with its own open-world zone and an orbit to explore. The game features a "golden path" of more linear story missions. The core story is aimed at 25-30 hours, with completionist play reaching 50-60 hours. This is a deliberate choice—it's not a 150-hour epic like some modern open-world games. The scope is controlled to ensure quality and focus.

The Heart of the Story: A Relatable, Unplanned Adventure

So, what's the story really about? Gerighty loves that protagonist Kay Vess is a character who falls into this adventure. It's not some grand, master thief plan. It's a series of bad decisions leading to reckless moments. This makes Kay much more relatable than a perfect criminal mastermind. She's a scrappy street thief in over her head.

Gerighty compared the narrative feel to Martin Scorsese's film After Hours—a story about one terrible, escalating night in New York born from a chain of poor choices. That relatable, chaotic energy is at the core of Outlaws. Sure, there's a heist plan, but as in all the best stories, it never goes according to plan.

Mission Accomplished?

After a decade of working together, the team feels they've landed very close to their initial pitch. While there's always the desire to add more (a constant in game development!), Gerighty believes the original vision—and more—is in the final game. For a team that's been together so long, hitting their core goals while delivering a fresh Star Wars experience is a huge achievement.

In the end, Star Wars Outlaws represents a thrilling new direction for the franchise in gaming. It's proof that you don't need lightsabers or Force powers to tell a compelling Star Wars story. Sometimes, all you need is a fast ship, a loyal creature companion, and a lot of nerve to navigate the galaxy's treacherous underworld. As a fan, I can't wait to finally step into Kay Vess's boots in 2026 and make my own mark on the galactic underworld. This isn't just a game; it's a love letter to the scoundrels and smugglers who make the Star Wars universe feel truly alive. ✨