Honestly, making a massive open-world game in the Star Wars universe is a bit of a nightmare. You’ve got Lucasfilm Games watching your every move, a fan base that will tear you apart over the wrong shade of blaster bolt, and the technical reality that not everything fits on a disc. Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment learned this the hard way. While playing as Kay Vess feels like a breath of fresh air compared to another Jedi power fantasy, the list of Star Wars Outlaws rejected concepts is actually just as interesting as what made it into the final build. It’s about the "no" that leads to the "yes."
When Julian Gerighty and the team at Massive first sat down to map out what an "underworld" game looked like, they had a blank canvas. Sort of. It was more like a canvas with a bunch of pre-existing lines they couldn't cross.
Why the Jedi Were Star Wars Outlaws Rejected From the Start
It’s the first question everyone asks. Where are the lightsabers?
The decision to keep the Force out of Kay’s hands wasn't just a whim. It was a foundational rejection. Early in the pitch process, the idea of having a Force-sensitive protagonist or a companion who could move things with their mind was basically laughed out of the room. Why? Because the "scoundrel" fantasy dies the moment you can Jedi Mind Trick your way out of a debt. Massive wanted a character who survived on luck, scrap, and a well-timed punch.
If you look at the game now, Kay is vulnerable. She’s scrappy. That wouldn't work if she was a secret Skywalker. The team rejected the "Hero's Journey" trope because it’s been done to death in Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor. They wanted a dirtier, more grounded vibe. Think less A New Hope and more Andor or the first half of Solo. By rejecting the Jedi, they opened up the door for the Syndicate system, which is arguably the meat of the game.
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The Planets We Never Got to See
Massive went through a dozen different biomes before settling on the final selection. One of the most prominent Star Wars Outlaws rejected locations was a high-density "vertical" city planet that felt a bit too much like Coruscant.
Wait, why would they say no to Coruscant?
Complexity. If you’ve played the game, you know the speeder is your best friend. A planet that is 90% skyscrapers and elevators doesn't exactly scream "high-speed chase." They needed wide-open spaces like Toshara—a moon designed specifically for the game—to let the engine breathe. They also reportedly looked at more familiar desert worlds but realized they didn't want to just make "Tatooine 2.0." Even though Tatooine is in the game, it’s there as a legacy anchor, not the blueprint for every other rock in the sky.
There were whispers during early development about a water-heavy planet. Think Kamino but with a criminal underbelly. It sounds cool on paper, right? But water physics and stealth mechanics are famous for being a development sinkhole. When you're trying to hit a release window in 2024, you have to kill your darlings. The water world was shelved in favor of the lush jungles of Akiva, which offered better gameplay loops for Kay’s companion, Nix.
Nix Wasn't Always a Merqaal
Speaking of Nix, our favorite little six-legged thief went through several iterations. At one point, the "companion" slot wasn't even a creature.
Massive toyed with the idea of a droid sidekick. It makes sense for Star Wars, right? Every protagonist has a droid. But they rejected the droid idea because it felt too "clean." A droid is a tool. A Merqaal is a pet. By making Nix an organic creature, the emotional stakes shifted. You’re not just repairing a circuit board; you’re looking after a living thing. The "rejected" droid eventually evolved into ND-5, the BX-series commando droid who wears a trench coat. He’s cool, but he’s not the one crawling through vents to steal grenades. That shift in dynamic changed how the entire stealth system was built from the ground up.
The Mechanics That Failed the Vibe Check
Not everything that works in a spreadsheet works in a galaxy far, far away. Here are a few things the team experimented with but ultimately threw in the trash:
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- Complex Crafting: Early builds apparently had a much more granular crafting system. We're talking picking up 15 different types of scrap to build a single scope. It felt too "survival game" and not enough "action-adventure." They simplified it to keep the pace up.
- Branching Main Endings: While the Syndicate reputations change how the world treats you, the core story of Kay Vess is relatively fixed. The team rejected a Mass Effect-style multiple-ending approach to ensure the story stayed "canon-compliant" with the era between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
- Space Combat Simulation: At one point, the space flight was more "sim" than "arcade." They realized quickly that most players just want to jump into the Trailblazer and blast TIE Fighters, not manage fuel ratios and oxygen levels.
The "Wanted" System: It Could Have Been Much Harder
The Imperial Wanted system is one of the tensest parts of the game. But did you know it was almost much more punishing?
In early testing, the Empire was relentless. If you reached a high enough heat level, it was basically a death sentence. The developers had to dial it back because it was discouraging players from exploring. They rejected the "ultra-hardcore" version of the law to maintain a sense of fun. They wanted the Empire to be a threat, not a reason to turn the game off. They found the sweet spot by allowing players to bribe officials or hack terminals to clear their names, which feels way more "outlaw" anyway.
Let's Talk About the Reputation System
This is where the real drama is. The Syndicate system—dealing with the Hutts, the Pykes, the Crimson Dawn, and the Ashiga Clan—is the game's spine. But the Star Wars Outlaws rejected version of this included even more factions.
There were talks about including the Black Sun or even smaller, localized gangs on each planet. Massive ultimately decided that having too many factions would dilute the player's choices. If you have ten factions, your standing with any single one doesn't feel like it matters. By narrowing it down to four major players, your betrayals actually hurt. When you screw over the Pykes to help Crimson Dawn, you feel the weight of that choice. It creates a "frenemy" dynamic that a more bloated system would have lost.
Dealing With Lucasfilm's "No"
Working on Star Wars isn't like working on The Division or Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Every single asset goes through Lucasfilm.
There’s a famous story in game dev about the "Star Wars Bible." If you want to put a specific chair in a cantina, it has to exist in the era. If you want a character to say a certain slang word, it has to be vetted. Many creative ideas for Outlaws were rejected simply because they didn't fit the 1980s "used future" aesthetic of the original trilogy. You won't see sleek, Prequel-era technology here. Everything is chunky, buttons are analog, and things look like they’ve been repaired a dozen times. This rejection of modern sci-fi tropes is exactly what makes the game feel like "real" Star Wars.
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What This Means for Future DLC
Just because an idea was rejected for the base game doesn't mean it's dead forever.
The upcoming story packs—Wild Card and A Pirate's Fortune—are perfect dumping grounds for the "too big for launch" ideas. We already know Lando Calrissian is showing up. It’s highly likely that some of the rejected gambling mechanics or specific Sabacc variations that were too complex for the main campaign will find a home in these expansions. The rejected "Pirate" faction elements are clearly being repurposed for the second DLC.
Actionable Takeaways for Players
If you’re diving into the world of Kay Vess, understanding what was left on the cutting room floor helps you appreciate what's there. Here is how to make the most of the systems that did make the cut:
- Don't ignore the factions: The rejected "hardcore" reputation system still lingers in the background. If you hit "Terrible" standing with a syndicate, they will send hit squads after you while you’re trying to do other missions. It's a pain. Keep at least two factions on your "Good" side to give yourself breathing room.
- Master Nix early: Since the droid-buddy idea was rejected, Nix is your only tool for long-distance interaction. Learn the "distract and fetch" combo immediately. It’s the only way to get through Imperial compounds without a massive firefight.
- Upgrade the Speeder: Because the vertical world was rejected for horizontal speed, your bike is your lifeline. Focus on the jump and speed boost upgrades first. The terrain on planets like Toshara is designed to be jumped over, not driven around.
- Listen to the Cantina chatter: A lot of the world-building that couldn't be "acted out" in cutscenes is hidden in the background dialogue. It’s where the developers snuck in the lore that Lucasfilm wouldn't let them put in the main script.
At the end of the day, Star Wars Outlaws is a game of compromises. Every open-world game is. But by rejecting the "God-tier" powers of a Jedi and the clutter of a dozen different factions, Massive managed to build something that feels focused. It’s a scrappy game about a scrappy girl, and in a way, the rejected ideas are what define the boundaries of Kay’s world. They kept the scope tight so the atmosphere could be thick. If you haven't played it yet, go in expecting a heist movie, not a space opera. You'll have a much better time.