Traditionally, May 4th is always a big day for the Star Wars franchise. For many years, May the Fourth has been celebrated as Star Wars Day, both by the franchise fans and its creators. Anyone who has access to the IP usually has something to say on May 4th, whether it's a poster reveal like LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga got last year, or something more dramatic like a game announcement. Naturally, Star Wars fans are holding their breath to see what will be announced in 2021. However, there's a fair few reasons that 2021's May 4th will be considerably quieter than previous years.
The fact of the matter is that Star Wars video games in a bit of an awkward position compared to previous news. For one thing, there's the obvious problem of the COVID pandemic, which is still impacting the video game industry heavily, slowing down development for projects of all kinds. For another, though, there's just not a ton of reason to expect a lot of blockbuster announcements in 2021. The Star Wars IP is in a weird place between newly released games and known games that are still far in the future. There's not a lot of studios that could suddenly come forward with the reveal of a new Star Wars game.
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There's lots of games that probably won't have much to say on May 4th. For instance, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga just got delayed out of its previous spring release window. There was a decent chance that Traveller's Tales wanted to release the game on May 4th, so the delay is unfortunate, but maybe it'll at least give a new release date in May. Other games known to be in development are things like Ubisoft and Lucasfilm Games' joint Star Wars venture, which is far too new an announcement to say anything specific on Star Wars Day.
Fans are really hoping to see some important sequels, particularly Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2. Last year, Respawn Entertainment did have a free update to the game to share with fans. 2021 would seem like a good time to tease the sequel, but Respawn might be busy with a major update for Apex Legends expected out on May 4th. Although a Star Wars crossover on that day would be fun, Fallen Order fans would be pretty disappointed to see no sequel.
Other demanded games like Star Wars: Battlefront 3 and Knights of the Old Republic 3 are also really unlikely to make a sudden appearance next May. After all, Battlefront 3 is surely to early in its development, and Knights of the Old Republic 3 is only rumored to exist. The truth is that 2020's modest May 4th may have set the precedent for 2021. Last year, the biggest announcements were LEGO Star Wars' poster, Fallen Order's update, and Vader Immortal's move to PlayStation VR. 2021 may be another year where fans get updates on long-known projects rather than new games coming to the forefront.
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Last year's May 4th had one significant advantage over this year. It was still only a few weeks into the COVID pandemic's international lockdowns, meaning studios working on Star Wars projects hadn't faced an overwhelming amount of delay yet. This time, it's been more than a full year of studios developing games remotely instead of under their normal circumstances. Although lots of people might have wanted to make this year's Star Wars day a big one, but knowing how hard things have been over the last few years, it might just not be feasible. It's possible that all kinds of secret plans have been delayed past May 4th by now.
Of course, there's always a sliver of hope. Although some projects like The Skywalker Saga are facing difficulties, others might have managed to push forward with plans for May 4th announcements. No matter how unlikely the circumstances may seem, there's always a chance that many developers who dabble in the Star Wars franchise have something to share. Even if everyone only has small events or announcements to reveal, if lots of different studios come together, 2021's May 4th could still be big. Maybe over the course of April fans will get some teasers of what's to come to Star Wars in May.
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