- "Star Wars: Hunters draws inspiration from classic Star Wars stories and settings, but with a look and feel that is different from anything we have done before."
- ―Douglas Reilly, VP of Lucasfilm Games
Star Wars: Hunters was a free-to-play competitive arena combat video game from NaturalMotion and BossAlien, as well as another unknown third studio, and edited by Zynga and Lucasfilm Games. It was given a soft launch for Android mobile devices on November 16, 2021, with a further release for iOS and iPadOS mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch console on June 4, 2024. A soundtrack was released on June 7, 2024.[11] It was shut down on October 1, 2025.[5]
Publisher's summary[]
Set after the fall of the Galactic Empire, Star Wars: Hunters will bring players together in thrilling, team-based multiplayer battles. Select from a diverse cast of new characters, including daring Bounty Hunters, heroes of the Rebellion and Imperial stormtroopers. Star Wars: Hunters is free to download for the Nintendo Switch, on the App Store and on Google Play.[12]
Gameplay[]
- "So what we observe, you know, not only through the design of the game, but also from what we observed from just watching players collecting analytics, is that those teams that play together and learn how to work together well, they are the top performing teams."
- ―Design Director Scott Warner
Gameplay from the point of view of Rieve
Star Wars: Hunters was a third-person skill-based competitive arena combat game. The game let players pick from a selection of 11 characters, each of which belongs to one of three classes: Damage, Support and Tank. They then form a team with three other players to fight for domination against another team in arena confrontations on a selection of 8 maps, supporting various game modes, such as Support, Control or Huttball.[14]
The game featured character customization, allowing players to equip their hunters with different costumes and other cosmetics. These could be both in-game and real-world purchases, via the in-game premium currency: Crystals. It also featured a progression system, first with Hunter Fame, each match giving a certain amount of Fame, with the character ultimately gaining new Hunter Levels, and second with player progression, both unlocking various rewards, such as credits, Crystals, cosmetics and modules.[14] The game supported cross-play across all platforms.[15]
Development[]
Initial conception and reveal[]
- "Having a game that exists in canon in the universe is a massive privilege. We just want to keep expanding the universe of Star Wars as best we can, introducing new exciting characters."
- ―Senior Art Director Rich Kemp
Early concept exploration of Star Wars: Hunters by Giu Grassi
The game was first mentioned on August 18, 2018, when Zynga and Disney reached a deal regarding the development of a new Star Wars mobile game, with NaturalMotion starting development soon after,[17] with the help of their subsidiaries BossAlien.[18] On November 16, 2020, Zynga announced the creation of a new dedicated game studio in Austin, Texas, USA.[1] The game was mentioned again on February 10, 2021, in Zynga's Q4 2020 earning reports,[19] before being properly announced several days later on February 17, 2021, conjointly during a Nintendo Direct livestream,[20] and on StarWars.com.[2]
Soft launch[]
An homage to the cover of Star Wars (1977) 1 was made in celebration of Star Wars: Hunters soft launch
On September 14, a first batch of nine characters were showcased in a trailer,[21] along with an update of the game website, including upgrades on the characters,[15] and a pre-register scheme featuring various milestones.[22] On November 16, it was announced that the game was entering soft launch, on Android in India, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.[3] On December 14, the first game patch, 0.11.1, was released, introducing a character progression system.[23]
Two new characters were revealed on February 14, 2022: Skora and Sprocket,[24] alongside a new game mode: Huttball.[25] This announcement was quickly followed by a game update, 0.12.1, on February 16, which included the characters and game mode revealed earlier, four new maps, an expanded soft launch to Mexico and Brazil, improvements to the progression system, and new cosmetics. It was also announced that iOS devices were joining the soft launch in the near future.[26] Game update 0.13.0 was released on May 11, extending the soft launch to Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, providing support in new languages: Traditional Chinese, Italian, German and French, adding new movement ability such as jumping and climbing obstacles, introducing a Battle Pass allowing to unlock new cosmetics, and a limited time game mode: Matchup Mayhem.[27] This was followed a month later, on June 13, with a minor patch, 0.13.2, which provided several balancing optimization.[28]
On July 18, it was announced that the game would be delayed until 2023.[29] Update 0.14.0 was then released on July 27, which included several gameplay changes, a renaming of the Battle Pass into Arena Pass, and new cosmetics.[30] Update 0.15.1 launched on October 11 and introduced a new deathmatch-style game mode called Squad Brawl as well as nighttime variants for previously released maps.[31] On November 8, 2023 it was announced that the game would be delayed until 2024.[32]
On January 5, 2024, a competitive Ranked Mode was announced to be coming with the 0.19 update. The Ranked Mode would have three game modes: Squad brawl, Dynamic Control, and Trophy Chase. The Ranked Mode was announced to have several Leagues of varying skill level, each consisting of three divisions. The lowest will be bronzium, followed by chromium, then aurodium, beskar, and at the highest level, kyber. Players could ascend/descend in rank by winning or losing matches, which translated into a points system. Increasing rank would give players rewards. By making it to the top division, players would have accumulated a legendary costume and weapon wrap set, an epic costume and weapon wrap set, a ranked limited edition avatar for each league, as well as currency and Hunter Fame rewards. Players at the top 100 of each division and the top 100 globally overall would be displayed on public leaderboards.[33]
Subsequently, update 0.19 released on January 9, 2024. The update formally introduced the Ranked Mode, as well as introducing new Gunplay mechanics, expanding player access to Diago, a new map, new game modes, and new cosmetic content. The new mechanics to ranged weaponry included recoil and weapon spread patterns, overheating and ammo, and improved focused aim abilities. Different Hunters had different gunplay mechanics based on their individual weapons. The overheat feature affected Hunters with blaster-based weapons such that when the weapon overheated, the player would be unable to fire as the weapon vented. This feature affected Imara Vex, Sentinel, Utooni, Slingshot, Sprocket, and Zaina. The Hunters Diago, Charr, and Skora had non-blaster ranged weapons and were given an ammunition count, requiring a reload when depleted. To account for the new mechanics, the update included significant rebalancing of Hunter statistics.[34]
The map Vandor Railyard was added with update 0.19, replicating the steep cliffs and moving trains of an Imperial Railcrawler Facility in the mountains of Vandor. The new game mode Dynamic Control required squads to compete for rotating control points, winning by holding the point while keeping the opposing squad out of the zone. Additionally, the limited time mode Boulder Bash, part of the new Holo-Arcade, was announced. This mode had every player as Grozz, battling exclusively with his Ultimate. The update announcement described the Holo-Arcade as a creation of Sprocket in which he made the rules.[34]
A late March, 2024 update teased forthcoming information on expanded game access. Update 0.20 marked the beginning of a new season focused on Rieve and her dark side assassin persona. The new season coincided with a refresh of the Ranked Mode and the release of a new game mode called Power Control, in which squads tried to hold at least two of three static control points to earn rewards. Additional items in the update included new legendary costumes for Rieve, J-3DI and Sentinel, a variety of costumes, poses, weapons wraps, stickers, and avatars for other Hunters, and several rebalances across the board. Update 0.20 introduced a new feature in the game called Arena News, described as a central location for Arena gossip, event updates, art, and lore.[35]
Global release[]
On April 30, 2024, a new cinematic trailer was released to announce a world-wide release on June 4, 2024.[4] This coincided with a reveal of exclusive pre-registration rewards for all platforms, as well as a Nintendo Switch exclusive Shift Veteran costume and weapon wrap for Imara Vex.[36] Star Wars: Hunters was released globally on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android on June 4, 2024.[37]
On November 26, 2024, it was announced that Hunters would be receiving a release on PC via Steam, with play-testing from December 13-16, 2024 and from January 10-13, 2025 before an early-access launch on January 27. The early-access launch was planned to correspond with the release of the new map called Coruscant Underworld and a new Hunter named Glikkin.[8] However after the December playtest, they forwent the second one and pushed back the early access launch,[38] though Glikkin was added to the game as part of Season 5.[39]
Star Wars: Hunters was shut down on October 1, 2025
On March 14, 2025 it was announced that Hunters would be shut down. Season 5 was extended to March 25, with a final content update releasing on April 15 which added the Hunter Tuya. The servers would be shut down on October 1.[5] It was also confirmed that the PC release would not launch.[40] Following the game's shut down announcement, it was also announced that the final update will not receive any promotional push, but a patch note.[41] The final content update on April 15 also removed the in-game purchase and challenges features, instead giving players access to all cosmetic items and mods except those which are unlocked through Hunter Fame progression and the final ranked season.[42] The servers were shut down on October 1 making Hunters no longer playable.[14]
Continuity[]
New cast and foreshadowing[]
Members of the new cast of characters created for Hunters face off in the Arena
The game features a cast of new characters.[2] One of them, Imara Vex, was featured in the comic War of the Bounty Hunters 5,[43] published on October 13, 2021,[44] one month before the game's soft launch.[3] The junior novel Hunters: Battle for the Arena, written by Mark Oshiro, ties in to the game and was published by Disney–Lucasfilm Press on March 7, 2023.[45] The novel focuses on the character of Rieve.[46] Introduced for the first time in 2011 as one of the Player versus Player modes of Star Wars: The Old Republic,[47] Huttball made its debut in canon as one of the game modes of Star Wars: Hunters.[25]
Timeline matters[]
With the introduction of Season Four on November 26, 2024,[48] the game introduced avatars related to Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Although the game takes place in 9 ABY,[10] avatars only appear in game menus, not within the playable content of the game nor within in-universe commentary. Therefore, the introduction of these avatars is not anachronistic.[14]
At least the beginning of Star Wars: Hunters is set in 9 ABY,[10] a mere five years after the Battle of Endor.[49] The Ewok character of Pilbush—who was introduced in the game's third season[50]—is said to have grown up hearing about her family's role in the Battle of Endor[51] since she was "very young," with Pilbush then appearently growing up to join the New Republic Defense Fleet before she joined the arena.[52]
Credits[]
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Appearances[]
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| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
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Organizations and titles
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Vehicles and vessels
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Miscellanea
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Sources[]
Notes and references[]
External links[]
Homepage on Star Wars: Hunters' official website (original site is defunct)- Star Wars: Hunters on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
- Star Wars: Hunters on Wikipedia
- Zynga Star Wars (@zyngastarwars) on Instagram (original link is obsolete)
- Zynga Star Wars (@ZyngaStarWars) on Twitter (original link is obsolete)
- Star Wars: Hunters – Unreal Engine Gameplay Tech Demo | State of Unreal 2024 on the official IGN YouTube channel (backup link)
- Nintendo Direct – 2.17.2021 on the official Nintendo YouTube channel (backup link)
