LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga contains proof of its delays inside of every game box. The Skywalker Saga is the latest in the long-running LEGO Star Wars series with a story stretching across all nine mainline movies in the franchise. Unfortunately, The Skywalker Saga was delayed multiple times due to a troubling development period. This week, fans of both Star Wars and plastic bricks finally got their hands on TT Games’ largest LEGO game.
Released six years after LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Skywalker Saga is much more ambitious than previous LEGO games. Instead of simply remastering the levels from the original two games and The Force Awakens, each episode has been reimagined with brand new levels, including The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker which hadn’t received the LEGO video game treatment before. TT Games has reworked the combat for The Skywalker Saga and opened up the galaxy to over 20 open world-like hub planets. LEGO Star Wars had a positive reception for its humor, gameplay, and variety in gameplay.
Physical copies of Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga contain advertisements of real-life LEGO sets showing proof of the game’s delays. The tiny flyer inside the game boxes features LEGO Star Wars playsets from the 2019 and 2020 series. The advertisement is marked with a 2022 date, but three of the five builds (Poe Dameron’s X-Wing Fighter, Sith TIE Fighter, and General Grievous’s Starfighter) have since been discontinued. This shows that the game was likely intended for release soon after Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker released in theaters at the end of 2019. This marketing mistake can probably be chopped up to the game’s packaging being printed before The Skywalker Saga’s three delays.
It isn’t unusual for LEGO sets to be advertised inside the packaging for LEGO video games. The Skywalker Saga has been both selling and being reviewed well, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to create and print new advertisements for already packed versions of the game. If LEGO Star Wars' Steam sales are reflective of that of the physical versions, repackaging the game before currently-printed materials run out would mean a lot of wasted money, time, effort, and paper. Future copies could, however, be packed with current sets on the inserts. Perhaps sets that feature characters and ships from season two of The Mandalorian or other Star Wars lines that line up with upcoming DLC would be appropriate.
It’s interesting that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s delays have been documented by early copies of the game, but the marketing mishap doesn’t affect the LEGO Company or Disney much in the long run. The advertisements may feature sets that are no longer being produced, but they could still entice players to buy future LEGO sets. Cynically, the game could be viewed as an advertisement for the LEGO Star Wars toy brand as a whole. After all, a good number of Star Wars character design decisions were inspired by making and selling new toys to excited children and collectors. Luckily, the game itself more than justifies the purchase.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.