Star Wars: Hunters

Taking place after the Galactic Empire's demise, Star Wars: Hunters immerses players in exciting multiplayer battles with a team-based approach. Players can choose from a wide variety of new characters, such as brave Bounty Hunters, heroes fighting for the Rebellion, and Imperial stormtroopers. Star Wars: Hunters is available as a free download on the Nintendo Switch, the App Store, and Google Play.

Star Wars: Hunters presents a third-person perspective in a skill-driven arena combat setting, emphasizing competitive gameplay. Players are given the option to select from 11 diverse characters, each fitting into one of three distinct classes: Damage, Support, and Tank. After selection, they team up with three other players to engage in arena combat against another team, competing for dominance across 8 different maps. These maps accommodate various game modes, including Support, Control, and Huttball.

The game incorporates character customization, enabling players to personalize their hunters with a range of costumes and cosmetic enhancements. These items can be acquired through both in-game achievements and real-world purchases using the game's premium currency, Crystals. A progression system is also in place, featuring Hunter Fame earned through matches, which leads to new Hunter Levels. Additionally, there's a player progression system, with both unlocking rewards like credits, Crystals, cosmetics, and modules. The game is designed to support cross-play across all available platforms.

The game's existence was initially hinted at on August 18, 2018, when Zynga and Disney finalized an agreement to develop a new Star Wars game for mobile devices. NaturalMotion began its development shortly thereafter, supported by its subsidiaries, BossAlien. On November 16, 2020, Zynga announced the establishment of a new game development studio located in Austin, Texas, USA. The game was mentioned again in Zynga's Q4 2020 earnings reports on February 10, 2021, before its official announcement a few days later on February 17, 2021. The announcement was made jointly during a Nintendo Direct livestream and on StarWars.com.

On September 14, a debut trailer showcased an initial roster of nine characters, accompanied by an updated game website that featured enhancements to the characters and a pre-registration program with various milestone rewards. On November 16, it was announced that the game was entering a soft launch phase on Android devices in India, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The first game patch, version 0.11.1, was released on December 14, introducing a character progression system.

Two new characters, Skora and Sprocket, were unveiled on February 14, 2022, alongside a new game mode, Huttball. This announcement was quickly followed by a game update, version 0.12.1, on February 16, which included the previously revealed characters and game mode, four new maps, an expanded soft launch to Mexico and Brazil, improvements to the progression system, and new cosmetic items. It was also announced that iOS devices would be joining the soft launch in the near future. Game update 0.13.0 was released on May 11, extending the soft launch to Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan, providing support in new languages: Traditional Chinese, Italian, German, and French. It also added new movement abilities such as jumping and climbing obstacles, introduced a Battle Pass for unlocking new cosmetics, and a limited-time game mode called Matchup Mayhem. A minor patch, version 0.13.2, followed a month later on June 13, providing several balancing optimizations.

On July 18, it was announced that the game's release would be postponed until 2023. Update 0.14.0 was then released on July 27, which included several gameplay changes, a renaming of the Battle Pass to Arena Pass, and new cosmetics. Update 0.15.1 launched on October 11 and introduced a new deathmatch-style game mode called Squad Brawl, as well as nighttime variants for previously released maps. On November 8, 2023, it was announced that the game would be delayed until 2024.

On January 5, 2024, a competitive Ranked Mode was revealed, set to arrive with the 0.19 update. This mode would feature three game types: Squad Brawl, Dynamic Control, and Trophy Chase. The Ranked Mode was structured with several Leagues reflecting different skill levels, each broken down into three divisions. The lowest rank would be bronzium, followed by chromium, then aurodium, beskar, and finally, at the highest level, kyber. Players could move up or down in rank by winning or losing matches, affecting a points-based system. Advancing in rank would unlock rewards. Reaching the top division would grant players a legendary costume and weapon wrap set, an epic costume and weapon wrap set, a ranked limited-edition avatar for each league, and currency and Hunter Fame rewards. The top 100 players in each division and the top 100 globally would be displayed on public leaderboards.

Subsequently, update 0.19 was released on January 9, 2024. This update formally introduced the Ranked Mode, along with new Gunplay mechanics, expanded player access to Diago, a new map, new game modes, and new cosmetic content. The updated mechanics for ranged weaponry included recoil and weapon spread patterns, overheating and ammo management, and improved focused aim abilities. Different Hunters had unique gunplay mechanics based on their individual weapons. The overheat feature impacted Hunters with blaster-based weapons, preventing them from firing while the weapon vented. This affected Imara Vex, Sentinel, Utooni, Slingshot, Sprocket, and Zaina. Hunters Diago, Charr, and Skora, who used non-blaster ranged weapons, were given an ammunition count, requiring reloads when depleted. To accommodate these new mechanics, the update included a significant rebalancing of Hunter statistics.

The Vandor Railyard map was added with update 0.19, replicating the steep cliffs and moving trains of an Imperial Railcrawler Facility in the mountains of Vandor. The new Dynamic Control game mode required squads to compete for rotating control points, winning by holding the point while keeping the opposing squad out of the zone. Additionally, the limited-time Boulder Bash mode, part of the new Holo-Arcade, was announced. In this mode, every player was Grozz, battling exclusively with his Ultimate ability. The update announcement described the Holo-Arcade as a creation of Sprocket, who established the rules.

A late March, 2024 update hinted at forthcoming details regarding expanded game access. Update 0.20 marked the start of a new season focusing on Rieve and her dark side assassin persona. This new season coincided with a refresh of the Ranked Mode and the release of a new game mode called Power Control, where squads attempted to hold at least two of three static control points to earn rewards. Additional items in the update included new legendary costumes for Rieve, J-3DI, and Sentinel, as well as various costumes, poses, weapon wraps, stickers, and avatars for other Hunters, and several rebalances across the board. Update 0.20 also introduced a new feature called Arena News, described as a central hub for Arena gossip, event updates, art, and lore.

On April 30, 2024, a new cinematic trailer was released, announcing a global launch on June 4, 2024. This announcement included the reveal of exclusive pre-registration rewards for all platforms, as well as a Nintendo Switch-exclusive Shift Veteran costume and weapon wrap for Imara Vex. Star Wars: Hunters was globally released on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android on June 4, 2024.

On November 26, 2024, it was revealed that Hunters would be coming to PC through Steam, with play-testing sessions from December 13 to 16, 2024, and from January 10 to 13, 2025, leading up to an early-access launch on January 27. This early-access launch was intended to coincide with the release of a new map, Coruscant Underworld, and a new Hunter named Glikkin. However, following the December playtest, the second one was skipped, and the early access launch was postponed, although Glikkin was eventually added to the game as part of Season 5.

The game introduces a roster of fresh characters. Among them, Imara Vex made an appearance in the comic War of the Bounty Hunters 5, released on October 13, 2021, a month before the game's soft launch. The junior novel Hunters: Battle for the Arena, penned by Mark Oshiro, serves as a tie-in to the game and was published by Disney–Lucasfilm Press on March 7, 2023. The novel primarily centers on the character of Rieve. Huttball, which first appeared in 2011 as one of the Player versus Player modes in Star Wars: The Old Republic, made its debut in canon as one of the game modes in Star Wars: Hunters.

With the arrival of Season Four on November 26, 2024, the game incorporated avatars associated with Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Although the game is set in 9 ABY, these avatars only appear in game menus, not within the playable content or in-universe commentary. Therefore, their inclusion does not create any timeline inconsistencies.

Star Wars: Hunters begins in 9 ABY, just five years after the Battle of Endor. The Ewok character Pilbush—introduced in the game's third season—is said to have grown up hearing about her family's involvement in the Battle of Endor from a "very young" age. Pilbush then apparently joined the New Republic Defense Fleet before entering the arena.