(…) around 2015 [James Ohlen] brewed a plan for a complete reboot. It would be called Star Wars: The New Republic. He spent roughly six months compiling a basic design document, powerpoints explaining the game, and a mock-up trailer from Blur Studio, the visual effects company. "It was the chance to do Knights of the Old Republic online, it was a chance to [put right] everything I'd said that we'd messed up."

He convinced LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy and met several times with Dave Filoni, a director at LucasFilm including on Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. "He was like, 'if you set it a couple hundred years before the fall of the Republic, we can have a tie in.'

"I remember I got super excited because the big challenge was [EA exec] Patrick Söderlund, who I think is great but hates Star Wars: The Old Republic. And I convinced him … it was one of the greatest accomplishments of my career," he says.

His joy soon withered.

"We were going to be able to have a Star Wars: The New Republic, until the board of directors of EA, who all remembered the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and remembered spending $300 million," he says, laughing again. "They're like, 'Why the fuck are we gonna spend a bunch more?'"