TOKYO, March 6 — Information about a more experimental sort of “Star Wars” game has been discovered courtesy of a stealthy PlayStation Network update.
The unannounced “Star Wars: Project Maverick” was surfaced by PSN Release, an automated Twitter bot that interrogates the PlayStation Network for information about new PlayStation 4 releases and updates.
It's not yet clear whether “Project Maverick” is the game's final title or a codename, nor what its release schedule might be.
The collage that makes up the game's PSN image is depicted in hues of black and red, a color scheme used to depict antagonistic factions in the crossover movie franchise.
Dominating the image's upper right quadrant is a star destroyer, an Imperial-class military starship closely associated with the Galactic Empire and the First Order — the dark side of the Force.
Bottom left is a volcano spewing forth molten lava and even chunks of rock which, together with the picture as a whole, could be taken as a reference to Mustafar, the volcanic planet upon which Darth Vader built his personal Fortress.
However, Vader's Mustafar base was recently explored in 2019 VR title Vader Immortal for Facebook's Oculus VR headsets, while there are other volcano planets within existing “Star Wars” lore.
Also present on the PSN Store image are a number of X-Wing starfighters, nimble spaceships associated with the opposition Rebel Alliance and Resistance.
Further information supplied by PSN Releases programmer Luciano Ciccariello returns a little more detail.
The full title identifier for “Project Maverick” suggests that the upload is for a Beta build and therefore perhaps for public testing.
Another tracking service, the PS4 PKG Database, reports that the game has a multiplayer component and is not for Virtual Reality systems, as revealed by Gematsu.
Electronic Arts' Motive Studio, based in Canada, is behind “Project Maverick,” according to industry reporter Jason Schreier.
He was the author of Kotaku's February report about a different, cancelled “Star Wars” spin-off, describing the untitled “Maverick” as a “smaller, more unusual” affair.
Motive was established in 2015 by Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond, who departed in 2018 to head up Google's Stadia Games and Entertainment cloud gaming division.
The Montreal outfit, which now has a sister studio in Vancouver, assisted with development on 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II, and absorbed EA's Mass Effect: Andromeda team BioWare Montreal the same year. — AFP-Relaxnews
