There’s a tradition in Star Wars for regretting the things we didn’t get rather than cherishing the things we did, but when the missed opportunity is Project Ragtag, the cancelled EA Star Wars game steered by uber-producer Amy Hennig that faltered and stalled a few short years ago then that longing is somewhat understandable. Producer Zach Mumbach looks back to this lost opportunity, and makes some bold claims about just how incredible the game could have been.
Mumbach talks about how a leadership team was brought in to cut and ship the game, who had a different vision for Ragtag than Amy Hennig’s crew at Visceral. “I’m thinking, this is effing Amy Hennig, we have the chance to make the greatest Star Wars game ever made and a possible Game of the Year contender.”
When asked about what might have happened if the team were given more time, Mumbach told MinnMax’s Ben Hanson, “I think we would have made the best Star Wars game ever made. The story and the setup and the characters… like, man it was set up for success but what we had to execute was going to take a while.”
Mumbach later talks about how EA had started to pivot away from single-player experiences, which led to Ragtag’s ultimate demise, and how frustrating it was to see them return to the formula years later with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
According to Mumbach, the team had a set of unfinished levels and a set piece involving a “crazy AT-ST moment.” “You were on foot running from it and it was trying to hunt you down but you were more agile, slipping through all these alleyways and just barrelling through and crashing and using all the destruction of Frostbite.” Mumbach also described the gameplay as “Star Wars Uncharted.”
