Games giant Zynga, known for its extended catalogue of mobile games, are no stranger to working with big IP names, from the wizarding world of Harry Potter to Game of Thrones’ Westeros.

So, in 2018, news broke that Zynga had entered a partnership with Disney to create a mobile Star Wars game, it seemed that a hit was cards. And when Zynga charged its subsidiary NaturalMotion, which it acquired back in 2014 for $527 million, with developing the game, it felt like success was in the bag.

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Zynga’s executive vice president Yaron Leyvand picks up the story.

“Star Wars: Hunters was and is a labour of love by an international team across our studios in Brighton, London, and Austin. During development, the team evolved as they continued to add and expand content in the game," he says.

At one point the company had as many as 300 staff working on the game, PocketGamer.biz understands.

It was ready to break cover at Nintendo Direct in 2021, where the first official teaser was shown. The reveal made Star Wars: Hunters the first game from Zynga to be developed for Nintendo Switch alongside mobile.

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However, while the game was expected to launch later that same year; a global launch didn’t happen.

Instead, Hunters was soft launched across Android devices in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and Zynga announced in 2022 that the full release would be delayed until 2023.

Many wondered if the game would make it to a global launch, but as Leyvand told us, “we’ve always been committed to bringing this game to Star Wars fans around the globe”.

With years in soft launch, the team was able to expand the game significantly from its initial announcement.

“We saw great engagement and input from players in our soft launch phase and worked to incorporate that into the version you see now”, says Leyvand.

He adds that soft launch phase proved invaluable for the NaturalMotion team to “introduce new gameplay modes, characters, and mechanics that truly make Star Wars: Hunters a best-in-class competitive arena shooter".

And it’s finally here. Despite fan fears, Star Wars: Hunters launched globally yesterday, on June 4th, 2024.

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However, the Nintendo Switch was released back in 2017, meaning it’s coming toward the end of its cycle, with rumours already floating that a new Switch could be on the market as early as Q1 2025.

Then there’s the mobile market, which moves incredibly fast and has faced numerous challenges for the last couple of years. Has Star Wars: Hunters - like Dawn of Titans before it - spent too long in gestation?

Leyvand teases that the team has “a tremendous amount of exciting updates that we want to bring to players and fans in the future”.

So, could there be a possibility that the team will bring the game over to the next-generation Switch and other formats whenever they land?