When you talk about Star Wars games, you can immediately feel how the franchise has tracked, and sometimes even led, each major shift in video game technology. From the noisy arcade era to cinematic open world experiences, moving through PC, consoles, handheld, mobile, and now mixed reality.
And it did not happen out of nowhere. It grew alongside very specific local gaming cultures. An Australian-based organisation called IGEA, together with Bond University, generated a report called Australia Plays 2025. This report concluded that video games are a regular form of entertainment for adults in Australia. Among Australians surveyed for the report, 82% stated they play video games, which shows how commonplace gaming now is in the modern adult world.
From Vector Screens To Open Worlds: How Star Wars Learned To Switch Controls
Star Wars video games have followed the same evolution as video game history overall. In the past, it was all about fantasy and instant gratification with a cabinet, a joystick, sound effects of shooting lasers, and the experience of being part of a battle that took place in outer space. Today, however, the focus has changed to something much bigger.
It is intended that the game world provides players with an interactive universe where they can explore, observe and otherwise engage with entities within that world such as NPCs having random conversations or interacting with objects in their environment. All of these interactions should give players a sense of control over their own decisions and actions rather than having them feel like the decisions and actions of the creators of the universe. In that regard, something really interesting has come up. As entertainment became more digital and always online, the surrounding ecosystem changed too.
With communities, events, business models, and even payment methods. In Australia, that sits alongside a clear regulatory context. Even so, as with many online topics, plenty of people look for information to understand what is out there and what is legal or not.
Explanatory, comparative content like the guide put together by Alexander Reed discussing the best Australian Bitcoin casinos can be genuinely useful. On the games side, that same curve of ambition is easy to see when you compare more contained experiences with the leap to games that sell the fantasy of freedom.
A great case is Star Wars Outlaws, which has been marketed as a game that offers an open world and was released in 2024. Even when people discuss whether or not the PS5 is a worthwhile investment, they often default to discussing their experience of playing the system. The pull of scale, the care in the atmosphere, the urge to explore.
The Service Era: When Star Wars Became A Routine And Not Just A Release
In the 2000s and 2010s, Star Wars started experimenting with a format that is now standard, games that do not end when you finish the story. They become routine, platform, and community. There is an upside, keeping the universe alive between films and series, and a less stable side. If a game depends on servers and an active player base, it can also vanish quickly.
As per the Game’s Support Page, the final content update was released on April 15; The Game had continued to be supported with server usage for an additional 18 months until servers were taken offline on October 1, 2025.
This trend is indicative of the on-again, off-again cycle of live services in general, and it defines how a player can be considered a “fan” of a title. In previous eras, to be a fan of a franchise through video games was to accumulate boxes of cartridges, CDs, memory cards, and magazine issues. Now, it is following seasons, in-game events, updates, and sometimes goodbyes.
2025-2026: VR, Mixed Reality, And Tactical Strategy
Star Wars does not try to represent a single style of video game. Right now, Variety is the most notable thing in the game industry; on the flip side, Star Wars is representing many genres. One path is immersion through headsets. In April 2025, Fantha Tracks discussed ILM projects in the Meta Quest ecosystem and referenced Star Wars: Beyond Victory as forthcoming.
It also described different modes, like a narrative adventure blending VR and MR, a holotable experience, and a playset mode. Shortly after, StarWars.com published a trailer and positioned the project as an experience built for Quest 3 and 3S, combining storytelling with the fantasy of podracing.
Another path is almost the opposite. Less reflex, more brain. In April 2025, StarWars.com announced Star Wars Zero Company as a single-player, turn-based tactics game, developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and Respawn, with a release planned for 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
The result is that playing Star Wars no longer means just one thing. Depending on your mood, you might want the fantasy of exploration, the curiosity of experimenting with a playset at home, or the satisfaction of winning a mission through tactical choices.