Star Wars: Eclipse development has slowed to a crawl. With Quantic Dream cancelling Spellcasters Chronicles, planning 95 layoffs, and NetEase potentially selling the studio, the game’s future looks more uncertain than ever.
Star Wars: Eclipse has been in development for nearly five years with almost nothing to show for it. First revealed at The Game Awards in December 2021, Quantic Dream’s ambitious High Republic-era action-adventure has yet to produce a single frame of gameplay footage. An April 2026 report from Insider Gaming described development as moving at “a snail’s pace,” with the game still “years off from completion.” Since then, the situation has only gotten worse.
What Insider Gaming’s Report Actually Says
In early April 2026, Insider Gaming journalist Mike Straw shared detailed information about Eclipse’s development status on the outlet’s weekly podcast. According to Straw’s sources, a “good portion” of Star Wars: Eclipse has been completed. That sounds promising until you hear the rest: “very little progress” has been made over recent months, and the team is well behind where it should be at this stage.
Straw was careful to clarify that Eclipse is “not in development hell” in the traditional sense. The creative direction is reportedly intact and a substantial chunk of the game exists. The problem is speed. Development is crawling because NetEase, Quantic Dream’s Chinese parent company, is unwilling to invest further in expanding the team. New hires are trickling in at a rate of roughly one or two per month, far below the ramp-up expected for a AAA title in its core production phase.
“At this stage, the long-term outlook is less driven by creative capabilities and more by financial viability,” one source told Insider Gaming.
Spellcasters Chronicles: The Funding Plan That Failed
To understand Eclipse’s financial predicament, you need to understand Spellcasters Chronicles. Quantic Dream developed this free-to-play 3v3 PvP strategy game alongside Eclipse, with the explicit goal of generating revenue to fund the Star Wars project. Announced in October 2025 and launched into Steam Early Access in February 2026, Spellcasters was Quantic Dream’s first foray into live-service multiplayer.
It did not go well. The game peaked at just 888 concurrent players on Steam and quickly dropped below 100 daily players. It earned a “Mixed” rating of 61% positive on Steam. On May 20, 2026, Quantic Dream pulled the plug, announcing that development would cease immediately and servers would shut down on June 19. Players who made in-game purchases were offered full refunds.
The timing is critical. Insider Gaming’s April report stated that “should Spellcasters fail commercially, NetEase is expected to reevaluate its commitment to the studio and could opt to discontinue further investment.” That exact scenario has now materialized. According to France’s Video Game Workers Union (STJV), Spellcasters Chronicles was in development for eight years before being cancelled just four months after its Early Access launch.
95 Jobs at Risk in “Internal Reorganization”
Alongside the Spellcasters cancellation, Quantic Dream announced an “internal reorganization.” The STJV quickly revealed that this means the studio plans to lay off approximately 95 employees, roughly one quarter of the entire company. The union also noted that workers were not credited in the game’s Early Access version despite years of development work.
Quantic Dream stated it could not comment on affected employees due to France’s legal process for layoffs, which is still in its early stages. The STJV is demanding that Spellcasters team members be reassigned to other projects, presumably Star Wars: Eclipse, rather than being let go. Whether that happens remains unclear.
Could NetEase Sell Quantic Dream?
NetEase acquired Quantic Dream in the summer of 2022 for approximately 100 million euros, making the French studio its first European development team. Since then, NetEase has been systematically divesting from its Western gaming investments. The company has been described as having “no idea what they want to do in the West,” repeatedly cutting and changing direction.
Mike Straw stated plainly: “It would not surprise me if we hear this year or next year that NetEase is selling [Quantic Dream] off.” He emphasized that NetEase does not want to shut down the studio outright but rather offload it to another buyer. In theory, a new owner could inject the resources Eclipse needs. In practice, any acquisition creates its own disruption and uncertainty.
What Is Star Wars: Eclipse Supposed to Be?
Star Wars: Eclipse is being developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games as a narrative-driven action-adventure set during the High Republic era, hundreds of years before the Skywalker Saga. Unlike Quantic Dream’s previous titles such as Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain, Eclipse is designed as a more traditional action experience with open-world elements and a multiplayer component.
The game features multiple playable characters with branching storylines shaped by player decisions. Set in an uncharted section of the Outer Rim, it promises “never-before-seen species and planets.” Quantic Dream’s Paris headquarters handles writing and story, while a Montreal studio staffed with former Eidos Montreal and Ubisoft Montreal developers focuses on action gameplay and world design.
Earlier reports indicated that Quantic Dream’s proprietary engine, originally built for confined cinematic experiences, has struggled with Eclipse’s open-world scope. The engine’s architecture was designed for small-scale levels with limited AI, not multi-planetary exploration. This technical challenge has been a recurring issue throughout development.
The game is expected to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, though no platforms have been officially confirmed. Its official website still describes the project as “early in development.”
Quantic Dream’s Official Position
Despite the mounting evidence of trouble, Quantic Dream has maintained a consistent message. In its May 2026 statement announcing Spellcasters’ cancellation, the studio said: “The development of Star Wars Eclipse is not affected by this decision and continues as planned.” In October 2025, studio founder David Cage wrote: “Of course, development of Star Wars Eclipse continues, and we are eager to share more with you in the future.”
PC Gamer noted the uncomfortable irony: Spellcasters Chronicles was supposed to be the revenue lifeline for Eclipse, and that lifeline is now gone. Quantic Dream’s assurance that Eclipse is “unaffected” has been met with widespread scepticism from industry observers and fans alike. Lucasfilm Games has not publicly commented on the situation.
When Could Eclipse Actually Release?
There is no official release date or even a release window. The original 2026 target reported by Insider Gaming in 2023 is clearly no longer viable. Based on the April 2026 report, the game appears to be at least two to three years away from completion, placing a realistic launch window around 2028 or 2029 at the earliest. Kotaku joked that it might arrive alongside the PlayStation 6.
If NetEase sells the studio, timeline predictions become meaningless until a new owner establishes their own development plan. If no buyer emerges and NetEase continues limiting investment, Eclipse could face an even longer development cycle or, in a worst-case scenario, cancellation.
Questions Players Keep Asking
Has Star Wars: Eclipse been cancelled?
No. As of June 2026, the game remains officially in active development. Quantic Dream has repeatedly confirmed this, most recently in May 2026. However, multiple independent reports describe development as extremely slow with uncertain funding.
Will the Spellcasters layoffs affect Eclipse?
Quantic Dream says no. The studio claims the two projects operated with separate teams. France’s STJV union is pushing for Spellcasters staff to be reassigned to Eclipse rather than laid off. Whether laid-off employees included anyone working on Eclipse has not been confirmed.
What platforms will Eclipse be on?
PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S are widely expected based on Quantic Dream’s recent multiplatform releases and industry reporting. No official platform confirmation has been made.
Is there any gameplay footage?
No. The only public material is the cinematic CGI trailer from The Game Awards 2021 and a handful of in-engine screenshots. No gameplay has ever been shown publicly.
Why is the game taking so long?
Several factors have contributed: Quantic Dream’s engine was not designed for open-world games, the studio has faced hiring difficulties linked to past workplace controversy, the project’s scope is extremely ambitious for the studio’s size, and NetEase has been reluctant to fund team expansion. Financial constraints are now the primary bottleneck rather than creative or technical ones.
The Bigger Picture
Star Wars: Eclipse sits at the intersection of several industry-wide challenges: a parent company retreating from Western gaming investment, a studio attempting to pivot from interactive cinema to open-world action, live-service games failing to sustain player populations, and major layoffs reshaping development teams. Whether Quantic Dream can navigate all of these obstacles and deliver the High Republic adventure that trailer promised in 2021 remains genuinely uncertain. For now, the game exists in a limbo that is not quite development hell but not exactly a healthy production either. Fans hoping for this particular Star Wars story will need patience measured in years, not months.
