We interview Massive about living the Scoundrel fantasy in Star Wars Outlaws

Posted on August 20, 2024

Last week, Checkpoint Gaming was thrilled to attend a Star Wars Outlaws VIP event at the Microsoft Experience Centre in Sydney. The event was hosted by Ubisoft ANZ and even featured a delightful menu of themed treats and drinks. Media and content creators were invited to get a special sneak peek at the studio’s upcoming release. There were even a few Nix plushies in attendance!

Developers from Massive Entertainment, a studio renowned for their work on other Ubisoft open-world games, took us on one incredible adventure into what will be the first-ever open-world Star Wars game. I was treated to some incredibly fascinating insights into its development and what it took to make it come to life as well as a special interview with the Massive team members in town.

Star Wars Outlaws is a single-player, open-world action-adventure that allows players to finally live out their scoundrel fantasy. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the game takes place during a time of Imperial power – where criminal syndicates flourish amongst the fringes of society. Outlaws isn’t meant to be a story about the good guys, or the bad guys. It’s more of a walk along the grey area in between that sees Kay Vess and Nix out to pull off the biggest heist the galaxy has ever seen.

During our VIP session with Associate World Director Cloé Hammoud and Lead Concept Artist Samuel De Vos we were given an exclusive look at Star Wars Outlaws. Both developers spotlighted elements of the game such as the creative direction and gameplay vision – specifically how its systems and design build out that scoundrel fantasy they seek to tell.

It was always intended for Massive to tell a fresh story in the Star Wars universe. Kay is definitely less than perfect, yet her skills as a street-smart character get her into as much trouble as they get her out of. With the help of Nix, she dives into the galaxy on her own terms which is something I really like the idea of. Kay is the underdog in this narrative and players will see her rise up as she gains reputation and notoriety across the galaxy. This is the underworld of the Star Wars universe we only had glimpses into during the movies.

Kay Vess has grown up in this world despite still having a lot to learn. Players are able to utilise her stealth, gunplay and strategic thinking to find their way through any tight spots amongst the syndicates she might find herself in. Her companion Nix is her partner in crime. He’s a merqaal, which is an original creature created by Massive Entertainment. He’s able to be directed by the player to distract, steal and do all manner of other cute crimes. Together they can venture around the planets and explore the galaxy.

It’s very evident that immense care has been taken to preserve George Lucas’s vision. Massive Entertainment has been quite committed to working with Lucasfilm Games to flesh out the world of Outlaws. Much of the game’s art and world direction involved understanding the original vision of Ralph McQuarrie – a conceptual artist who worked extensively on the original trilogy. His retro-futuristic designs paved the way for the Star Wars aesthetic we know today. Outlaws is built upon his early imagining of what the series could be.

You also wouldn’t be alone in thinking the game does achieve a certain cinematic style throughout it. At a 21:9 ratio, this certainly is a clever touch to make it all feel like every frame might be a movie. I do appreciate this certain vintage quality that comes through in the effects but I can see this filtering being quite contentious for those desperate for fidelity over vibes. I can’t help but appreciate this styling thing and I do wonder if maybe this is where Star Wars Outlaws will truly come into its own for many players who aren’t as excited for open-world games broadly.

While attending the event, I was also able to interview the games Associate World Director Cloé Hammoud and Lead Concept Artist Samuel De Vos after their presentation with the group. The full transcript of the interview can be seen below.

Why do you think no other studios have tackled an open-world Star Wars game before? Did that put any extra pressure on diving into a big franchise like Star Wars?

Cloé – I think, again, it’s a guess. I’ve been working in the video games industry for a decade now. And I think when you work in a studio or for a specific company that has a specific set of skills, such as Ubisoft, we’ve been doing open-world games, you tend to capitalise on what you know. It can be risky to change completely from one genre to another or have to completely define a game, especially when you have a certain budget and time. So I feel like maybe no one had that expertise before and they’d rather do a good Star Wars experience in other ways. And this is why we thought at Massive, it was perfect for us to do an open-world Star Wars game, because we have that expertise and because we knew how to do that. We thought it would be very thrilling for players to explore, for example, a Cantina in the game. But also the backstage of a Cantina and allow players to discover all of this. So I do think it’s because of this, but again, I’m just guessing.

Samuel – I think the scoundrel story is something that is a little bit untold as well, especially in video games. And it really is served well by an open-world experience because Kay – but also as a scoundrel in general – we want freedom. You want to do whatever you want to do. Travel places, smuggle – stuff like that. So it really serves well to be able to walk around the cities, take your speeder, board your spaceship, hyperjump to another space region, do the same thing, and go to another planet. So it really fulfils that fantasy as well.

I very recently got back into The Division. Seeing how your studio builds out that world again has made me even more excited to get into Star Wars Outlaws. How does that experience gained from developing other games Massive worked on influence the creation of Outlaws? 

Samuel – Definitely, there are a lot of people at Massive who are experts at making those worlds come to life. I think it’s something that I also feel when you play a game like Star Wars Outlaws, you will see that same care that has been done in The Division 1, The Division 2, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. There’s a lot of experience there already and I think that Massive is quite good at sharing that between projects.

During the presentation, you both mentioned the faction system present in Star Wars Outlaws. Say I choose to focus on supporting only the Hutt Cartel for instance. Does that have any major ramifications on the main story or remove your ability to do some quests in the game?

Samuel – I think the main story that Star Wars Outlaws is always trying to tell is that Kay is looking for that freedom and going on the biggest heist the galaxy has ever seen. And her goal will not change depending on what faction you decide to side with. I think what’s important for a scoundrel as well is that Kay is not looking to befriend any faction, specifically. She’s not involved with them, but she’s self-involved in going towards her goal. How you reach that goal might be different. As I mentioned, it might change your clients by your side or who puts a bounty on your head. But Kay’s goal will remain the same.

Cloé – I think we have two types of experiences with criminal syndicates in the game because we wanted players to be able to explore, you know, faction territories and feel that weight of the criminal, and the world in the different planets. So for example, the distributions of the crime syndicates won’t be the same from planet to planet. So really show that they have different interests depending on where they are and how they work or do not work with the Imperials. Also, we wanted to explore that thread. So you have more like a free-form exploration where you can definitely play with the reputation system, take on contracts and that type of things, but also have proper narrative milestones through the main quest that will allow you to have big dramatic moments with some of the most notorious crime lords. So we wanted to show that even Kay is a street thief, she will also stumble upon and encounter some of the most notorious crime lords. You have both of these experiences, but it’s not going to stop your progression.

So with Kaye, if you were to focus on one Syndicate, you can repair your reputation with another Syndicate by doing quests that they like instead?

Samuel – There are definitely things that don’t directly tie into the main quest line that you can do on the side to change your reputation with affection. Maybe there’s a certain reward that you’re looking for or access to a specific vendor. And then there are definitely possibilities to play with when you’re saying to play with the reputation system.

Cloé – Not only through the quests, but also other small interactions with characters in the world. We wanted to make the reputation system feel more organic and less driven in some ways.

“I remember one of my first impressions of Star Wars was some of that quirkiness that you eventually learn to love because it’s part of the identity.”

Obviously you’ve both come across Star Wars at different times in your own lives. What are your memories with Star Wars? What do you feel is your favourite part about such a big franchise? 

Cloé – I think It’s a good question because, like I said, we have a team that is composed of many Star Wars fans, but they are, of course, all different ages. So we all have a different entry point with this franchise because it’s so timeless, and they keep producing things that can speak to another type of audience, which is great. So we have other game directors who went to the cinema for the first time during their childhood, who saw their first movie. So I’m younger. You are even younger, so we have different entry points with this. But I do like also… I was amazed by the worlds and what they managed to do, or with the different environments. But also I’m very interested in what they managed to do these recent years and how they managed to refresh some aspect of the franchise and keep exploring uncharted territories. So Whether it’s The Mandalorian or other TV shows, I do think it’s very cool what they are doing.

Samuel – I remember one of my first impressions of Star Wars was some of that quirkiness that you eventually learn to love because it’s part of the identity. When you watch the original trilogy and you see some of the alien species or some of the other strange creatures, you see they’re animated in a bit of a weird way because it’s just a person in a suit or a hand in it. And that is something that when you see other media, they try to bring that in there as well, that quirky animation style. And it’s the same with stormtroopers. When you first see them in the original trilogy, it’s like, why can’t they aim? But that is something that within the simplicity of the stormtroopers you learn that’s a part of the identity of Star Wars. So I think that’s a very charming part of the franchise.

What are you most excited for fans to experience in the Star Wars Outlaws?

Cloé – Again, the diversity of the environment. I think it’s a true privilege to be able to create all of these different planets, and space regions, and even within well-known locations, such as that, we create new things as well on top of this while respecting what has been established. I think it has been really a blast to create all the cantinas, but also some of the most in-depth locations, such as what we call main quest locations. All of this, tells a story about the world. They allow you as a player and Kay to leverage her story to show a different facet of the underworld that I do really enjoy.

Samuel – I think there’s so much to choose from. Probably how many of the concepts are in this. Yeah. And the team that I work closely with, they come in touch with so many, basically all the visual aspects of the game. But I think one thing that I think, if we’re talking for the fan, specifically, is Kay, you can’t call her a Star Wars fan, right? She doesn’t know Jabba. She doesn’t know Lando. And going on that journey together with someone who is not familiar with all these things that you know very well, I think it’ll be a very interesting way for a Star Wars fan to experience Kay meeting Jabba for the first time.

Cloé – The more humble way.

Samuel – Yeah, exactly. I think that is fun if you’re not a fan as well because you get to know the stance of the Hutt Cartel alongside Kay. I look really forward to seeing the reaction of fans.

Star Wars Outlaws feels like a bold adventure exploring the universe’s underbelly. I’m very much looking forward to playing more and embarking on my own scoundrel exploits with Kaye and Nix across the galaxy.

Star Wars Outlaws launches on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Ubisoft Connect on 30 August. With Ubisoft+ Premium or by preordering Gold/Ultimate Edition, start playing up to three days early from August 27.

The journalist was flown to Sydney courtesy of Ubisoft ANZ for the VIP preview event.