Jade Raymond and Amy Hennig will now be working together to make a new Star Wars game. Two women working in top roles on such a well-known franchise is uncommon in the male-driven video-game industry.
Raymond previously worked for Ubisoft as a producer on the first Assassin’s Creed games. She worked her way up in the company and was instrumental in the founding of Ubisoft’s Toronto studio. At EA, Raymond will be helping to open the Motive Studio in Montreal where the Star Wars game will be made. She’ll also oversee EA’s Visceral Games, makers of the Dead Space games, and will participate with Bioware on that studio’s forthcoming games.
Jade Raymond
In a post on the Motive Studio website, Raymond said, “I love change and challenge, and the time is right to try something entirely new…Motive will be a creative-driven team, incubating entirely new IP and taking on some amazing projects. The first one is going to be really exciting—we’re going to work on Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game!”
Hennig was previously a creative director at Naughty Dog, where she was instrumental in the story development for the Uncharted games. She left that studio last year and joined EA specifically to work on a Star Wars game.
Having two strong women team up in important roles on such a highly regarded game is a big deal for women who work in games. Women rarely serve in top roles for the companies who make games. Women who work at game studios often find themselves unable to navigate the waters of an industry that has been male-driven since its inception. So having one woman, let alone two, in charge of this game will certainly be a powerful step in making women a larger part of the industry as a whole.
