There is absolutely no denying that Star Wars is one of the biggest franchises ever. The nine films released so far have earned a whopping $7.6 billion in box office revenue worldwide, and considering that that sum is without being adjusted for inflation with the first three films released way back in 1977, 1980, and 1983, that is some feat. The only franchises that have beat that are Harry Potter which made $7.7 billion and the Marvel Cinematic Universe which has raked in $12 billion so far after 16 movies. Star Wars is set to surpass Harry Potter this year and challenge Marvel when Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released on 15 December. One of the main reasons for the continued success of the epic space-based Jedi series is the fact that it always branches out into other media such as games to attract more viewers and give fans more to do.
Existing Star Wars Games
Star Wars has been well represented in the game world throughout its long history. In fact, over the years there have been over 100 computer, video, and board games, with a title on pretty much every games console ever invented. Originally there were the Star Wars games developed by Atari Inc. from 1983-88 for arcade, Atari 2600, Apple II, Macintosh, and later Nintendo Game Cube. Many others followed, with the latest offering for console gamers being Star Wars Battlefront for PlayStation 4, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows, released by Electronic Arts in 2015. The shooter game which allowed players to choose between playing as an Imperial Storm Trooper or a Rebel Alliance Soldier, along with characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Leia Organa, had sold 14 million copies by the end of 2016 despite receiving a mixed critical reception. Mike Mahardy of GameSpot, for instance, was let down by the game’s “repetitive combat.” EA has the opportunity to improve on the game which was without doubt a commercial success this year, with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II on 17, November. Although there have been numerous games already, there are still plenty of opportunities for more Star Wars-themed titles on other platforms that have shot to popularity in more recent years.
Should Star Wars go Beyond Action Gaming?
Battlefront II is being released a month before the next instalment of the film series in an effort to create some hype around Rian Johnson’s film before it hits the big screen, and attract console gamers to the eighth episode of the franchise initially conceived by George Lucas On April 17, 1973. But by only releasing for console, LucasArts is missing a huge sector of the overall gaming industry. The iGaming sector is thriving, and generated a revenue of over $47 billion in 2017. It would certainly be an idea for the franchise to collaborate with a slot game developer such as Microgaming in order to get a Star Wars slot on the market and attract players of these kinds of games. Microgaming has made games for a number of popular films including Bridesmaids, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park which won the Digital Product of the Year award at the Global Gaming Awards in 2014. The success of this game doubtlessly led to larger audiences going to see Jurassic World soon after, which with a worldwide gross of over $3.6 billion is the fourth most successful film of all time. All these games are available to play at online casinos like Bet Way, and the thing that attracts players to these titles is that they often feature short cut scenes and characters from the movies. Introducing some teasers for The Last Jedi within the game could be one way of creating some publicity among this demographic. Another way to do this would be to replicate popular smartphone apps such as Lara Croft Go and Hitman Go developed by Square Enix. This brought the huge franchises to a whole new audience and also provided a different take on the traditional console games. In the mobile apps, players had to complete a number of puzzles which got progressively more difficult. Along with getting into the booming mobile gaming industry, some kind of virtual reality offering could also be successful in the current climate. VR is taking a little while to get going, but PlayStation VR is doing fairly well with over 1 million headset sales so far. Sony has confirmed that there will be a VR mode for Battlefront II, but a full VR game that really immerses the player in the Star Wars universe would doubtlessly be a hit.
Although Star Wars already has an epic fan base and doesn’t neccesarily need to attract more viewers, if it wants to topple Marvel as the dominant movie franchise then it should branch out even further and cover all the bases. It also means that Star Wars fans have an option on every platform when it comes to playing as their favorite characters.
