Entertainment giant Disney is hiring someone to join its Digital Entertainment team to work on an upcoming Star Wars game that has the ambitious goal of being a “groundbreaking game experience that will herald the next generation of Disney to the world.”
The job ad for an Associate Art Director calls for someone who will work on the “ambitious and exciting new project.”
“Working with top-class industry talent, this role is perfect for the seasoned visionary leader looking to create something epic–guiding and collaborating with a robust group of creative and production leaders focused around a wonderfully rich and cohesive product that is truly Disney,” reads a line from the description.
The successful candidate will be the person who “inspires and informs our development teams to deliver the most authentic world-class Star Wars experiences.”
This person will help “shape the overall visual direction, safeguard IP integrity, and foster creative collaboration across internal and external teams.”
The person who gets the should will review art and visual design submissions with the aim of “ensuring all assets meet our brand and quality standards.” The person will also give feedback and should have a “deep understanding of Star Wars lore.”
Naturally, this person will also collaborate with the teams at Lucasfilm.
The job calls for someone with a lot of experience, including a minimum of seven years in gaming, film, or TV, and someone who has a “broad and deep” understanding of Star Wars. The person should also have “extensive game development experience” on “top-grossing, critically acclaimed AAA games on console and mobile.”
What’s more, the person who gets the job will be asked to travel globally to meet with partners spanning the world over.
The job requisition has lots of details about what the person will do and what credentials they should have, but it does not say much of anything about what the game actually is. From the sound of the job ad, the project will be developed externally, which makes sense given Disney doesn’t do much internal game development and instead licenses its brands to external teams.
While this specific game remains a mystery, we do know about many in-development Star Wars games, including Star Wars Eclipse, a remake of Knights of the Old Republic, a new game from Amy Hennig, Star Wars: Zero Company, and a third Star Wars Jedi game at Respawn. The latest rumor is that Creative Assembly is making a Star Wars Total War game and that it may be revealed at The Game Awards.
The frontrunner to become the next Disney CEO, Josh D’Amaro, is a big fan of video games. He shepared the $1.5 billion investment into Epic Games for the upcoming Disney x Fortnite project, and wants to do more with gaming going forward.
Disney was at one time a bigger player in the world of video games, as the company had its own dedicated internal gaming division with Disney Interactive Studios. Disney also operated the once-popular Disney Infinity “toys-to-life” brand, but it also shuttered. Today, Disney’s efforts in gaming mainly involve licensing its brands to other companies. In 2019, Iger spoke candidly about Disney’s struggles making and publishing games internally, admitting, “We haven’t been particularly good…”