Who Was Matt Shell, the Man Who Introduced ‘Star Wars’ Video games to Life?

The gaming business mourns the lack of Matt Shell, who most lately served as Director of Model Advertising for Star Wars: Jedi – Survivor. Sadly, he handed away this week from an obvious coronary heart assault.

Think about if Star Wars was solely confined to the silver screens. No epic battles in your Xbox, no wielding lightsabers in your PlayStation, only a galaxy far, distant that you possibly can solely go to by motion pictures. Sounds incomplete, doesn’t it? Fortunately, as a consequence of visionaries like Matt Shell, the Star Wars universe has been efficiently prolonged into our residing rooms and gaming dens, permitting followers to reside out their galactic fantasies in a means that few different franchises have managed.

Shell, who labored at LucasArts, isn’t a family identify like George Lucas, however his fingerprints might be discovered on almost each main Star Wars gaming mission that got here out previously 20 years.

Shell started his journey within the gaming business within the early 2000s, engaged on varied sports activities titles like World Sequence Baseball and NCAA Faculty Soccer 2K3 in manufacturing and mission administration roles. He additionally labored on beloved properties reminiscent of Monkey Island and Indiana Jones. Nevertheless it was after he joined LucasArts that he really discovered his calling. 

One in every of Shell’s earliest contributions was his involvement within the LEGO Star Wars collection. As a Senior Product Advertising Supervisor, he performed a key position within the growth and promotion of those beloved video games. However Shell’s affect prolonged far past the LEGO Star Wars collection. Because the Senior Product Advertising Supervisor for Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, he helped redefine the Star Wars gaming expertise with large-scale multiplayer battles that put gamers in the midst of iconic moments from the movies.

After which there’s Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order, a sport that many feared would falter beneath the burden of colossal expectations. Right here, Matt’s strategic advertising ensured that it wasn’t simply written off as one other entry into the crowded market.

It’s placing to see the sheer variety of critically acclaimed and commercially profitable video games that benefited from his abilities through the years. Certainly, Shell’s passing has left a gaping gap within the hearts of those that knew him and the gaming group at giant.

His premature passing is an incredible blow to the Star Wars gaming group, however his legacy will reside on. Relaxation in peace, Matt Shell, and will the Power be with you, all the time.