Quantic Dream is pushing back against growing concerns that Star Wars Eclipse faces an uncertain future, insisting the project has all the resources needed to reach completion despite sweeping staff cuts announced last month.
The French studio shuttered its live service title Spellcasters Chronicles just three months into early access, triggering a round of layoffs. Reports suggest as many as 115 employees, roughly a quarter of the workforce, could be let go as a result of the shutdown.
According to French gaming outlet Gamekult, workers striking outside Quantic Dream's Paris headquarters argue that moving developers from the defunct Spellcasters Chronicles project over to Eclipse is essential if the Star Wars game is to avoid cancellation. The strikers claim the project is hamstrung by insufficient resources, unclear direction, and stalled progress.
The timing carries symbolic weight. A Lucasfilm delegation was scheduled to visit the studio on June 25, the same day the strike took place, to assess Eclipse's development status. The workers wanted to send a unmistakable signal: without retaining key personnel from Spellcasters Chronicles, the game cannot be completed as currently planned.
In a statement provided to IGN, Quantic Dream rejected the narrative of a troubled project. "The development of Star Wars Eclipse remains unaffected by the recent closure of Spellcasters Chronicles," a company spokesperson said. "The development of Star Wars Eclipse is continuing as planned, with the full commitment of its team and all the necessary resources to complete its mission."
The studio added that it is focused on supporting employees facing redundancy, declining to comment further while the restructuring process continues.
This latest reassurance adds to a pattern of damage control. Quantic Dream first announced Eclipse through a cinematic trailer in 2021, positioning it as a blend of the studio's signature story-driven gameplay with action-adventure elements set in Star Wars' High Republic era. Five years later, there remains no release window in sight.
Over the intervening years, Quantic Dream has periodically issued statements to squash rumors of development trouble and hiring difficulties. Those challenges were partly linked to workplace allegations that shadowed the studio's reputation in previous years.
The latest upheaval also reflects broader turbulence at the studio's Chinese owner, NetEase. Last year, the conglomerate began retrenchment across its gaming divisions, pulling back from western video game investment. Quantic Dream CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière assured fans at the time that the Paris and Montreal studios remained operational and fully funded, citing record revenue in 2024 and insisting NetEase continues to provide "creative freedom and the financial resources necessary for our studio to grow."
Yet in March, NetEase terminated funding for another Quantic Dream project, a game called Gang of Dragon being developed by Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, effectively canceling it as part of the company's pullback from western game development.
The union behind the strike, STJV, is pressing Quantic Dream to sign a majority agreement that would minimize job losses and ensure remaining staff are allocated to finishing Eclipse. Without such an accord, the union's concerns about the project's viability could prove prophetic.
Author Emily Chen: "Quantic Dream's repeated insistence that everything is fine with Eclipse rings increasingly hollow when the studio won't specify how the layoffs won't cripple the project."
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