As recent hits like The Mandalorian have demonstrated, the Star Wars universe is incredibly expansive. When creating Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, developer Respawn Entertainment added several old pieces of lore back to the official Star Wars canon. However, the game's director, Stig Asmussen, recently revealed that podracing was one of the franchise's past elements that did not make it into the final game.
During a panel at the 2020 DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Asmussen went into detail about the game's development process. Although the development team at Respawn Entertainment had always wanted to create a single-player Jedi adventure game with lightsaber and Force combat, it had also considered alternate genres for its contribution to the Star Wars universe.
In the fireside chat, the director stated that he had considered creating either a podracing game or a more traditional Star Wars first person shooter. Asmussen also cited Lucasfilm's hesitation to allow Respawn to use the Jedi in a game as another reason to seriously consider developing a podracing game. However, Lucasfilm eventually allowed Asmussen and his team to use the word "Jedi" for Fallen Order, and Respawn was ultimately allowed to stick with the "melee-action" genre that defined the developer's previous games.
Had Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order used podracing as a mechanic, it would have been the first podracing game since 2002's Star Wars Racer Revenge for the PS2. However, according to Asmussen's talk at the DICE Summit, the podracing concept was short-lived.
Not only was the racing gameplay unlike anything Respawn was equipped to create at the time, but it was also clearly not what the developers had in mind. The fact that Asmussen and Respawn continued working on the game's premise without permission to use the Jedi shows an artistic commitment that could not have been easily changed.
Ultimately, the developer's decision to create a more story-centric, lightsaber action game was for the best. Thanks to both its callbacks and fresh gameplay, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was able to capture the attention of Disney itself, in addition to countless fans. After frustration with previous Star Wars games, Respawn's contribution revitalized the franchise's video game selections. It's no surprise that some believe a Jedi: Fallen Order sequel is already in development. Hopefully, Respawn will continue its current hot streak.
Source: DICE Summit