Two Star Wars Jedi: Survivor books are on their way, making some fans think that Spring 2023 release for the upcoming sequel could be on the cards.
Early today, the official Star Wars account announced two books. The first, Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars, tells an "original story" featuring Cal Kestis and the rest of the crew of the Mantis "on an adventure set between Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor." That's approximately a five-year gap, so it's far from clear exactly when on the Star Wars timeline the book will be set, but we do know from author Sam Maggs that Nightsister Merrin will be making an appearance.
The second book is The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which "will chronicle the development of the game." Expect to see concept art, creator commentary, and more behind-the-scenes details in an impressive hardcover tome.
While there's no release date set for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor yet beyond a 2023 target, fans are already speculating that these books mean we should be expecting something in earlier part of next year. Battle Scars is set to release on March 7, 2023, while the artbook is arriving on May 2. That could easily suggest a planned release date for the game sometime in the Spring - a prequel novel to set things up could easily be followed by an April launch, with a spoiler-filled artbook rounding things out the next month. Alternatively, a May 2 artbook release could be the perfect set-up for a Star Wars Day release of the game itself just two days later.
This is exciting. Not just because we’re getting two new Star Wars Jedi books, but now we have a range of when potentially Survivor comes out; Somewhere’s between March and May of 2023 https://t.co/sk5RTWZtEfAugust 19, 2022
The art book for Jedi Survivor will hit shelves May 2nd 2023. Meaning that we should see the release of the game around then as well. My guess is May 4th. pic.twitter.com/Bs6oi2TgpJAugust 19, 2022
All of that is just speculation, even if it's a somewhat educated guess. Even if Survivor is internally pencilled-in for a Spring release right now, there's every possibility that it could be delayed, and we're yet to see much more from the game beyond the teaser trailer from this year's Star Wars Celebration. That said, it's a relatively solid theory, and one that's shared by reporter Jeff Grubb, who took to Twitter to say that the "book that takes place between Fallen Order and Survivor is coming in March. So is the game."
So is the game.August 19, 2022
EA has previously hinted that the game could be set to launch after the end of its financial year. That's in March 2023, for the record, so the waters are a little muddied, but an April or May release certainly hasn't been ruled out yet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor fans are trying to identify the trailer's mystery figure.
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I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.