Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a hit for EA and Respawn when it released last year, but according to game director Stig Asmussen's recent interview on the AIAS Game Maker's podcast (as reported by GameSpot), it turns out Lucasfilm was hesitant to allow the game to go in this direction.
The company suggested Respawn's game focused on blasters rather than lightsabers, and here's what Asmussen said on the topic:
"They weren't super comfortable with the idea. I pitched, 'Hey what if we do a game about Jedi and Force powers, and they were not super comfortable with that. They threw it back and said, 'What about blasters and bounty hunters?' That's not the background of the team we've built; you might as well ask me and us to start building a racing game at this point. I don't think anybody's going to be happy with the results of that."
"What I came to learn is for them, Jedi is the Holy Grail. To make a game about Jedi, you gotta earn it. There was a little bit of a back and forth but they could see where I was coming from."
There were apparently many creative differences during development, several of which got a "hard no" from Lucasfilm when they were suggested. While he says this was frustrating, Asmussen adds that he understands Lucasfilm's position.
Did Fallen Order turn out well?