Stig Asmussen, the director of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, is leaving Respawn Entertainment "to pursue other adventures".
Originally reported by Bloomberg, Asmussen's departure was later confirmed by EA in a statement, explaining "Stig Asmussen has decided to leave Respawn to pursue other adventures, and we wish him the best of luck."
Asmussen joined Respawn Entertainment in 2014, where he oversaw development of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order before helming its superior sequel. Prior to that, he spent a decade at Sony America, where he worked on the first three God of War games, serving as Creative Director on God of War 3.
Asmussen's departure from Respawn is an interesting turn of events. Earlier this year, Asmussen expressed his desire to make the Star Wars Jedi series into a trilogy, an idea that was being discussed before Jedi: Fallen Order launched in 2019. "We were already talking about the second game," Asmussen said in an interview with IGN. "Frankly, we were talking beyond. And these are conversations that, when we're breaking the story with Lucasfilm, it's like: 'Well, where are we going with the second game."
He went on to add "I always wanted to see this as a trilogy."
As for what Asmussen's departure means for this untitled third Star Wars game, it seems Respawn is pressing ahead. In July, Respawn advertised several jobs to work on a new entry in its Star Wars Jedi series, stating they'd help Respawn "create an incredible Star Wars experience for our players in a fun, third-person action-adventure setting." Meanwhile, EA's statement regarding Asmussen's departure explained that "Veteran Respawn leaders will be stepping up to guide the team as they continue their work on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor."
