Most Star Wars fans agree that the one great thing about The Phantom Menace is Darth Maul and one of the many bad things is his quick death. However, the Expanded Universe has tried to remedy that with more Maul stories. Maul may have even been featured in a video game, but it was reportedly cancelled by LucasArts.
According to IGN, an anonymous developer told GameInformer’s latest issue that the Maul game was inspired by the acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum.
At one point, Damage, as it was codenamed, would have been a Maul origin story, but it was retooled to tie into a Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode arc that brought Maul back to life. However, the GameInformer report suggests that George Lucas himself stepped in and changed the direction again, to focus on characters introduced in the Dark Horse comics.
It was being developed by Red Fly, which LucasArts even considered purchasing at one point. That didn’t happen and neither did Damage. LucasArts let 70 employees go after the game was cancelled in 2011.
LucasArts itself no longer exists, as it was shut down in April 2013 when Disney began consolidating Lucasfilm and its branches into the company. Electronic Arts now has a licensing deal to develop Star Wars games.
Damage is just one of the Star Wars projects that never saw the light of day. Back in June 2012, fans were promised 1313, a ‘mature-themed’ game that never happened.