Polfeldt asks for more respect for the Star Wars Outlaws dev team: "they busted their mm-hmm to get it done"

Star Wars Outlaws released two months ago to a not so great reception, at least in the eyes of Ubisoft's stakeholders. We enjoyed the game thoroughly and it quickly managed to sell its first million copies, but it's objectively true that it could have used more polish at launch (as it was quite glitchy), or a bit more development time to fine-tune some of its sections and mechanics, such as stealth and enemy AI.

The team at Massive has been updating the game regularly with significant patches (the last one just a few days ago), so you'll gradually get to enjoy more of the very first open-world Star Wars game, which at any rate offers one of the most authentic atmospheres in the whole franchise, beautiful graphics, and some amazing syndicate interactions.

The other day we spoke with David Polfeldt, who was one of the main figures behind the project during his time at Massive. Even though he left the company two years ago (and now has founded Bespoke Pixel in Barcelona), he was the one sealing the deal with Disney and seeing the game come to life in Malmö, in parallel to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

"I'm really glad to hear that [you liked the game]", Polfeldt told Gamereactor at the Gamelab Nexus in Málaga. "Because I know the team made a tremendous effort for that game and they produced it in a relatively short time, if you think about it. I'm really, really happy for them and what they did".

"EA, Ubisoft, Activision are in a time of crisis and probably deserve it"

"I wish it was received better", he adds as a contrast in the video above, "and I think with more respect, because I think it's a little bit cheap to kick on it. I think there's a, let's be honest, there's an industry stigma right now where it's easy to complain about the industry. There is a big publisher stigma. It's very easy to complain about EA, and Ubisoft, and Activision, and all of them.

"But that's not analysis, if you ask me, that's some kind of internet bullying that I don't love, and I think it lacks real thought, because it's true that these companies are in a moment, in a time of crisis and probably they deserve to be also. That is my opinion, but I think it's not the dev team, you know, it's not the people who did Star Wars Outlaws, who busted their mm-hmm to get it done. Those are the people who are still fighting for amazing entertainment and for gamers. So I think maybe they're not the ones who deserve to be scrutinized".

At the 13:45 mark in the video Polfeldt also recalls the whole anecdote about how he casually asked Disney regarding making a Star Wars game almost as a joke, and the "beautiful moment" when it clicked.

"There are a lot of people there that I'm a product of their work, and they're a product of my work. They trusted me. I trusted them."

As he furthers unveils during our conversation, working on Star Wars was a lifelong dream for David Polfeldt since he was nine years old, making the project deeply significant on a personal level. The release of Outlaws was a bittersweet moment though, as it represented both a major achievement and the end of his direct influence at Massive Entertainment ("it's the last game where my name will be in the credits"). He explains how he felt a strong connection to its development team, and as he moves on from the studio, he expresses a sense of loss and reflection. Although he won't be involved in future projects such as the upcoming The Division 3, he recognises that his influence persists - also through the Snowdrop engine he now misses - believing that his work has left a lasting impact on the studio and its ongoing endeavours.