Quantic Dream developers walked off the job this week in June 2026, staging a strike timed to coincide with a reported visit from Lucasfilm representatives, as workers warn that a planned redundancy affecting 115 employees will make it effectively impossible to complete Star Wars Eclipse – with striking developer Théo telling Kotaku that “the game literally cannot be finished if the redundancy plan is implemented as currently scheduled.”
Here’s the context: Star Wars Eclipse was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2021 as a branching action-adventure set in the High Republic era – roughly 200 years before the Skywalker Saga – with multiple playable characters and the full narrative pedigree of the studio behind Detroit: Become Human. In the four-and-a-half years since that announcement, public updates have been sparse to the point where repeated industry coverage has focused less on the game’s progress and more on the conspicuous absence of any. Quantic Dream was acquired by NetEase in 2022, and the financial and strategic decisions now flowing through the studio – including the call to shut down the recently launched Spellcasters Chronicles – are understood to originate from NetEase rather than from Paris-based studio leadership alone. Spellcasters Chronicles, a multiplayer MOBA that launched on February 26, 2026 and was shut down on May 20, 2026 after failing to build a sustainable player base, is the proximate cause of the layoffs; the studio maintains the 115 affected employees were primarily attached to that project. The broader pattern of ambitious announcements followed by workforce reductions is one we’ve tracked across the industry, from Bungie’s back-to-back cuts under Sony to Microsoft’s studio closures mid-development – and the shape of what’s happening at Quantic Dream fits that mold uncomfortably well.
The mechanics of the strike are specific: the 115 employees slated for redundancy had been placed in a state of near-inactivity for roughly one month prior to the action, a period workers say amounted to lost production time that could have been used to onboard them onto Star Wars Eclipse. French labor law gives workers meaningful procedural rights during redundancy consultations, and the strike – which is union-backed – was deliberately staged on the day Lucasfilm representatives were reportedly on-site, a calculated move designed to ensure the licensor saw the disruption firsthand. Quantic Dream has publicly maintained that the cuts affect the Spellcasters Chronicles team, not the Eclipse team, but striking workers dispute that framing, arguing that skills are transferable and that the project requires more resources, not fewer. Director David Cage issued a statement in fall 2025 saying “Development of Star Wars: Eclipse continues, and we are eager to share more with you in the future” – which is corporate-speak for: we have nothing concrete to show and would prefer you not look too closely.
Honestly, the situation at Quantic Dream reads as a studio caught between two failed bets at once. The live-service pivot with Spellcasters Chronicles lasted less than three months on the market – a damning result for a project that clearly consumed years of studio capacity and staff that are now being cut rather than redeployed. Meanwhile, Star Wars Eclipse has been in development long enough that some internal and external estimates now place a realistic release at 2027 at the earliest, and that assumes no further disruption. Losing 115 people – even if management insists they were assigned to a different project – strips the studio of institutional knowledge, production capacity, and the kind of redundant expertise that complex, long-cycle games depend on. Developer Jules put it directly: “We’re understaffed, like in many other companies in the sector, because bosses know very well that passion will lead people to crunch time and [the] games will eventually be released. But it’s impossible to run a sustainable industry like that.” That is not a strike slogan; it is an accurate description of how the industry has operated for decades, and NetEase‘s apparent willingness to hollow out a studio mid-development on a high-profile Lucasfilm Games license is a sharp illustration of the problem. The broader pattern of publishers announcing marquee titles and then cutting the workforces needed to deliver them – a dynamic we detailed in our coverage of EA’s layoffs contradicting pre-acquisition job promises – is exactly what is playing out here, just with a Star Wars logo on the box.
What remains unclear is whether Lucasfilm or its parent Disney will respond publicly to the strike or the reported visit, and whether their review of the project’s status will trigger any formal intervention in the redundancy process. The extent to which French labor law’s consultation requirements can slow or alter the 115-person redundancy plan is also unresolved – French redundancy procedures include mandatory consultation periods and can be challenged legally if the process is deemed improper, and a union-backed action like this one often signals that legal avenues are being explored alongside the public pressure campaign. What to watch: any formal statement from Quantic Dream or NetEase addressing the strike specifically rather than the game’s status generically; any signal from Lucasfilm Games about whether its confidence in the project has shifted; and whether fresh footage or a development update follows the reported licensor visit – because silence after a high-stakes review meeting would speak loudly about where Eclipse actually stands.
Does the Lucasfilm visit change anything in practice, or does the license relationship give Disney enough leverage to push back on the redundancy plan if it genuinely believes the game is at risk? And given that Star Wars Eclipse has now been in announced development for more than four years with no release window, no substantial gameplay reveal, and a studio in active labor dispute – is there a realistic path to this game reaching players, or has it already crossed the threshold into indefinite limbo? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more Quantic Dream, Star Wars Eclipse, and labor-in-games coverage.
