Transmission from Ian

When I was a kid, I had my own fully functional X-wing. I’d fly it around, blasting TIE fighters and doing barrel rolls, speeding down the Death Star trench and making that one-in-a-million shot to save the galaxy. Pew pew! It was amazing.

Of course, my “X-wing” was a large cardboard box with a hole cut in the front, with buttons and screens drawn on with a sharpie. Just sitting in that box, imagining being an ace pilot in an epic Star Wars™ space battle, was an incredible adventure; the sort of thing a kid could get lost in. 

When I was a bit older, I had my first experiences with official Star Wars flight games; first on PC and then later on consoles. They made the pilot side of the Star Wars universe become more real than ever before, and I was absolutely captivated. I have very fond memories of those games to this day, and I’ve long hoped that someone would bring that pilot fantasy to life once more using all the potential of modern technology–realistic and detailed cockpits that I could immerse myself in, top-notch visuals and sound, customization to make each ship my own, real squadron tactics and teamwork with my friends, and maybe even support for fancy HOTAS controls and VR. How cool would that be?

Fortunately, I’m not the only one who felt this way. A few years ago, a small group of Star Wars fans here at Motive got together at the local cantina to reminisce about the great times they had in the ‘90s with those exact same games and began to ask the question: “What would a modern Star Wars space combat game look like?” That grew from a question to a pitch, and soon we had a small but passionate team working hard on a prototype to prove just how compelling such a game could be. Everyone who played that prototype fell in love, and with the full support of EA and Lucasfilm, we were able to start building a game that we simply wanted to play: Star Wars: Squadrons.

Now, this game can finally be in your hands. You get to climb into the cockpit of an X-wing or TIE fighter and learn to truly master your craft, from diverting power to shields and boosting your engines to pulling off an inverted “drift” maneuver. You can customize each ship to make it your own and discover an exciting new story from the waning days of the Galactic Civil War. You’ll earn your wings and become an ace pilot across epic space battles in a galaxy far, far away. 

Over the last couple of years, a team of die-hard Star Wars fans has worked very hard and poured a lot of love into this project—I hope you can feel that love come through in every story mission and every multiplayer battle. Maybe a little extra in the Ewok bobblehead.

On behalf of the entire Star Wars: Squadrons team, THANK YOU for your support and for coming on this adventure with us. Now, grab your helmet, lock your S-foils in attack position, and may the Force be with you!

Ian Frazier

Creative Director, Star Wars™: Squadrons