Although it's months away from release, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has already made a mark on Traveller's Tales' franchise of licensed LEGO games. This new LEGO Star Wars title's emphasis on reworking core mechanics contributes to that, but there's more to it. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has temporarily brought the franchise to a halt. Last year was the first year that Traveller's Tales didn't release a new LEGO game after maintaining a 15-year streak of annual releases. Since The Skywalker Saga won't release until 2022, it looks like that break in tradition will be extended to a 2-year hiatus.
Fans remain optimistic that The Skywalker Saga will mark the LEGO franchise's triumphant return to form. The trailer for the game certainly suggests that there's a lot to be excited about. However, one still wonders if The Skywalker Saga's many years of development mean anything for the overarching franchise's future. Few previous LEGO games from Traveller's Tales have gone through a development cycle quite like that of The Skywalker Saga, which has suffered delay after delay while still showing tremendous promise. There's a chance that Traveller's Tales will develop its titles in the more long-term way of The Skywalker Saga, changing the release pacing and quality of LEGO games forever.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga's Long Journey
A long time ago, fans were led to believe that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga would release in late 2020, which sounded perfectly reasonable after its initial announcement at E3 2019. Unfortunately, this date didn't last long. At Gamescom 2020, fans got a new release date for spring 2021, suggesting there was quite a bit more work to be done. As spring 2021 came around, LEGO Star Wars fans received no news until Traveller's Tales delayed the game indefinitely. Finally, at Gamescom 2021, fans got another release window: early 2022, a full year after the original delayed date.
The Skywalker Saga's initial delay wasn't surprising, of course. Tons of developers all across the game industry were delaying projects big and small throughout 2020 as they adjusted to new decentralized working conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's perfectly plausible that the pandemic got in The Skywalker Saga's delay too. However, the 2021 delay of the game was a little more surprising, especially because it was a far bigger delay than the first one. In 2020, The Skywalker Saga was pushed back by about half a year, but factoring in how long it took Traveller's Tales to give a new release window, the second delay was more like a full year.
Delays are winding down across the game industry as studios get back into the rhythm of development, but seemingly Traveller's Tales wanted vastly more time to perfect The Skywalker Saga. In spring 2021, a tweet from the studio claimed that it intends for The Skywalker Saga to be the best game to ever join the LEGO series. That could suggest that the game's second delay had less to do with the pandemic and more to do with a changing internal standard for quality. Maybe The Skywalker Saga's many years of development are setting a new bar for LEGO games, eschewing the franchise's original annual release schedule in favor of longer, more meticulous development schedules.
Should LEGO Games Take Longer to Make?
Traveller's Tales hasn't confirmed that future LEGO games will take as long to develop as The Skywalker Saga, but it's interesting to consider. On the one hand, longtime LEGO fans would be pretty disappointed to learn that the franchise will get sparser moving forward. The licensed LEGO game franchise is famously annual, with something new always around the corner, meaning its fans never have to wait too long for another title, which is great. Fast release schedules mean that these LEGO games can touch on a lot of licensed IPs at once, too, meaning the franchise's aesthetic always stays fresh.
On the other hand, maybe longer development times would be healthier for LEGO Star Wars and its video game peers in the long run. Generally speaking, there are two categories of complaints that most LEGO games have received from reviewers. The first is that they're often buggy; an annual release schedule doesn't leave a lot of room for polish, and Traveller's Tales sometimes gets criticism for that. The second is that they can be repetitive. Most LEGO games do reuse a lot of the same mechanics, favoring reliably fun but simple gameplay over constant innovation. If there's one thing Traveller's Tales could do to address these complaints, it's simply spending more time on LEGO games during development to ensure a higher standard of quality and originality.
There's clearly a case to be made for both the annual approach and the long-term approach. A constant stream of new titles is very satisfying, but there's also something to be said for slowly developed and mechanically innovative LEGO games. The Skywalker Saga will serve as a good case study for this second approach. The Skywalker Saga is packed with changes and original ideas, but does that make up for its many years spent in development? There's only one way to find out.
The Future of LEGO Games
It's entirely possible that Traveller's Tales will go right back into its original habits after The Skywalker Saga, releasing a new LEGO Batman or LEGO Marvel game within a year of The Skywalker Saga. However, The Skywalker Saga also might not permit that. It's been such a huge undertaking that Traveller's Tales might not have any other games in the oven at the moment. What's more, The Skywalker Saga's sprawling map and intricate combat mean that any subsequent LEGO game that goes back to basics risks living in The Skywalker Saga's shadow. It may ultimately be more practical for this LEGO Star Wars title to serve as the franchise's new benchmark.
For now, all eyes should be on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. After all, if the game's big changes end up being more disappointing than entertaining, then maybe Traveller's Tales can justify going back to basics after all. The studio's diligence and willingness to try new things should be cause for optimism, though. It's always great to see a develop take an IP as well loved as LEGO Star Wars so seriously and do everything it can to help that IP reach its full potential. Hopefully, the next LEGO game gets the same treatment.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga releases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.