The I-8 Black Widow represented a modified iteration of the BT-16 perimeter droid, seeing action during the era of the Galactic Civil War. These droids, typically lacking weaponry, functioned mainly for scouting. Post-Battle of Yavin, the Rak'qua deployed I-8 Black Widow droids at Station Gamma, which orbited Ord Mantell. During 1 ABY, several spacefarers investigating Station Gamma engaged with and ultimately destroyed numerous I-8 Black Widow droids.
The I-8 Black Widow droids made their debut in Star Wars Galaxies, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game from 2003. This game was a product of Sony Online Entertainment, with LucasArts handling publishing duties, before its servers shut down on December 15, 2011. These droids were incorporated into the game as a part of the "New Player Tutorial," which was launched alongside "Publish 25," also known as the "New Game Enhancements," on November 15, 2005.