Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order won't come early to Origin Access cos spoilers

Origin Access subscribers will not get to play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order before launch but will receive cosmetic trinkets instead. Early access to new games is one of the marquee features of EA's service, with a ten-hour trial usually available for Basic subscribers and the full game for Premier members. EA claim they're changing the usual deal for this one because of a terrible fear of spoilers, and so are offering skins for your robopal and spaceship instead. Hmm. Weird. Suspicious. But while I can't imagine story spoilers meaning a damn in Star Wars these days, I do think the spectacle of Star Wars is best as a surprise.

Even aside from the question or whether spoilers actually 'spoil' a plot, I'd be surprised if there's much worth spoiling. As the accepted response to The Last Jedi showed (and Disney's response to this response), Star Wars doesn't get to do anything surprising, subversive, or unfamiliar anymore. Disney want to tell familiar Star Wars stories in a familiar Star Wars way. But the spectacle of Star Wars can still be an exciting surprise.

Star Wars is great at dramatic landscapes, interesting places, and big spaceships. I don't care about plot spoilers but I would certainly like to see the spectacles with fresh eyes, especially considering Fallen Order is made by the studio behind Titanfall 2.

I don't remember the plot of Titanfall 2's campaign. There's a war? I think the baddies are mercenaries? And I had to... go somewhere? Dunno. But I certainly remember seeing the assembly line level for the first time, or the time loop, or being hurled by my robot buddy. Titanfall 2 was very good at spectacle and sweet little moments that would be less special if I were expecting them. Even though I'm not much into Star Wars, I'm excited to see what Respawn might do with it - and with a new robopal.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order officially launches this Friday, November 15th on Steam and Origin. Timezone trickery means it actually launches in the UK at 11pm on Thursday the 14th.

People are already sharing details from leaked files so changing how Origin Access works for supposed fear of spoilers is working out just grand. Well worth altering the deal for. Pray they don't alter it any further.

The Last Jedi is still the most I've enjoyed a Star Wars film. It stumbles, no doubt, but it tries. It called back to George Lucas's original inspirations in a pleasing way, it derailed the tedious destiny guff, it threw in stunning moments like the murderwarp, and it got to be generally messy and complicated in a way that I don't imagine Disney will let people try again. Calling in J. J. Abrams to direct and co-write the next film is a sure sign that they want it to be familiar and predictable, following the boring routine of a theme park ride. But, y'know, I'm not a Star Wars fan so I accept that it's not being made for me, and I suppose that's perfectly fine.