Zynga CEO Defends Star Wars Hunters as ‘No Failure’ Before Shutdown
▼ Summary
– Star Wars Hunters is being shut down in October, but Zynga’s CEO insists it was “no failure,” despite not being a viable business.
– The game had a lower-than-expected attach rate and lacked organic installs from the Star Wars license, contributing to its discontinuation.
– Zynga faced challenges with IP exploration, such as character restrictions, but created a functional cross-platform game that lacked long-term engagement.
– The shutdown allows Zynga to apply lessons learned to a new mobile action shooter project with another intellectual property.
– Star Wars Hunters launched in June 2024 but will cease operations in October 2025, with a canceled PC port and a final update in April.
Zynga’s CEO insists that despite its upcoming shutdown, Star Wars Hunters was far from a failure. The live-service multiplayer shooter, set in the iconic Star Wars universe, will officially close its servers in October, but Frank Gibeau maintains the game delivered valuable lessons rather than disappointment.
In a recent interview, Gibeau acknowledged that while Star Wars Hunters didn’t achieve long-term financial viability, it succeeded in other areas. The team built a solid technical foundation and created an enjoyable experience, even if player retention and organic growth fell short. One key challenge was navigating the constraints of the Star Wars license, decisions like whether iconic characters such as Darth Vader should be playable impacted the game’s appeal.
Despite its polished cross-platform performance on Nintendo Switch and mobile, Hunters struggled to maintain engagement. Gibeau emphasized that the project wasn’t a loss but rather a stepping stone. The studio now has a stronger understanding of the mobile action-shooter market and a refined tech stack using Unreal Engine. These insights will guide future projects, with Zynga eyeing another opportunity in the genre using a different intellectual property.
Originally revealed in 2021, Star Wars Hunters launched in June 2024 but faced an unexpectedly short lifespan. Zynga confirmed its closure in 2025, canceling plans for a PC version and rolling out a final update earlier this year. For now, the game remains playable on existing platforms, offering fans a few more months of gameplay before its servers go dark.
While Star Wars Hunters may not have lived up to commercial expectations, its legacy lies in the groundwork it provided for Zynga’s future ventures in competitive mobile gaming.
(Source: GameSpot)
