Star Wars: Commander was a mobile strategy game produced by Disney Interactive that featured characters, locations, and technology from the Star Wars saga. The game was released on August 21, 2014 for iOS devices, with a limited early release for select international markets. The game was officially shut down on June 12, 2020.
Contents
Publisher's summary[edit | edit source]
- Choose your side: Will you command AT-ATs and TIE Fighters as the Empire? Or call on iconic heroes like Han Solo and Princess Leia as the Rebellion?
- Build and defend your base: Train unique troops specific to each faction, and fortify your base with deflector shields, turrets, heavy artillery, and other defenses!
- Lead epic battles: Strategically deploy powerful armies, units, and vehicles against enemies and players around the galaxy!
- Form the ultimate Squad: Build strong alliances with friends and other players!
- Travel to multiple planets and complete special missions: Play an all-new story as a valiant leader on the front lines of the Galactic Civil War.
- Upgrade your strike team and its defenses: Strengthen your forces with multiple levels of upgrades for each unit![6]
Plot summary[edit | edit source]
Chapter I[edit | edit source]
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Players can side with the Rebellion or the Galactic Empire
The game features a storyline which takes place between the Star Wars episodes A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. A band of mercenaries has arrived on Tatooine to build a new base of operations. The group is led by Saponza and his partner. The mercenaries settle in at Saponza's homestead as their new base.[7]
Shortly after settling in, a band of thugs attack the base. After defeating the thugs, the group discovers that they worked for Jabba the Hutt, who has been angered by the defeat.[7]
In search of allies to protect themselves against Jabba, the mercenaries seek out contract jobs for both the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance.[7]
Upon returning from their contract jobs, the mercenaries find their base destroyed by Jabba's forces. In order to get it rebuilt, the mercenaries must fully align with either the Empire or the Rebels.[7]
Chapter II[edit | edit source]
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After Saponza's partner helped win the battle for Tatooine, the agent was cleared to move his forces to other planets to continue fighting in the war against enemy forces.
Gameplay[edit | edit source]

Players can earn rewards by completing chapters
Star Wars: Commander is a strategy game that is available for Android, iOS, and Windows devices.[1] Players use the touchscreen as their input and receive orders from the characters using holograms. They build up their base by acquiring credits and alloy and deploying various buildings. Troops and vehicles can be upgraded through the Research Lab.[8] Special hero units can be created in the game. These heroes are unique to each side. For example, players on the side of the Rebel Alliance can recruit Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2. The Empire can recruit Darth Vader, Elite AT-AT, Royal Guard and Veteran AT-ST.
Campaign[edit | edit source]
- There were limited campaigns in the game that unlock units, and these campaigns took place on various planets including Dandoran, Er'Kit, Hoth, Tatooine, Takodana, and Yavin 4. If you join a squad of players you will be in squad wars where you are on Sullust.
Empire | |||||
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Heroes | Infantry | Vehicles | Mercenaries | Equipment | |
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Rebel |
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Heroes | Infantry | Vehicles | Mercenaries | Equipment | |
Artic Heavy Trooper Cold Weather Rebel Hailfire Droid |
Buildings[edit | edit source]
Empire | ||||
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Headquarters | Resources | Army | Defense | Turrets |
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Rebel | ||||
Headquarters | Resources | Army | Defense | Turrets |
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Starships[edit | edit source]
Empire | Rebel |
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Starships | Starships |
Development[edit | edit source]
The game was announced on the Tumblr page of its publisher, Disney Interactive, on June 24, 2014. It had a limited release in certain markets,[1] including Australia,[6] followed by a general release on the iOS platform on August 21, 2014[1] and a subsequent release on the Android and Windows 8 platforms on September 18, 2014.[9] However, the Windows servers and Apple/Android servers are separate from each other, preventing players from interacting across servers.
A "hackathon" was held in mid-October 2014 in which developers of the game brainstormed ideas for new features. The best-in-show feature was "faction flipping," which would allow players to create a secondary account through which they could play for the side they had not chosen previously, either the Empire or the Rebellion, without having to restart the game, retaining all progress on the current account. The people's-choice winner was traps, such as a sarlacc pit that would swallow troops that came too close.[10]
On August 21, 2018, it was announced that Disney is handing over operations of Star Wars: Commander to game developer Zynga and that Zynga will assume operation of the live service.[11][12]
In the January 2019 software update, it was announced that NaturalMotion would be taking over the game services.
On March 13, 2020, it was announced in-game that the game was to close on June 12 2020, 11 am GST, with all in-app purchases disabled and the game removed from the app stores.[2]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
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Creatures
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Droid models
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Events
Locations
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Organizations and titles
Sentient species
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Vehicles and vessels
Weapons and technology
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Miscellanea
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Bibliography[edit | edit source]
Crush the Rebellion or Restore Freedom in Star Wars: Commander on StarWars.com (backup link)
Death Troopers Invade Star Wars: Commander – Exclusive! on StarWars.com (backup link)
"Join Us!"—Star Wars Insider 160
Star Wars: Commander Expansion Trailer on StarWars.com (backup link)
Take the Battle to Takodana in Star Wars: Commander on StarWars.com (backup link)
SWCE 2016: Star Wars: Commander Panel Liveblog on StarWars.com (backup link)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Content Comes to Star Wars: Commander on StarWars.com (backup link)
Gaming Deals for Star Wars Day 2018 on StarWars.com (backup link)
Star Wars Games Are Getting Special Modifications with New Solo: A Star Wars Story Content on StarWars.com (backup link)
5 Reasons to Check Out Star Wars: Commander on Its 5th Anniversary on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Choose a Side and Build an Unstoppable Force in the Mobile Game "Star Wars™: Commander" on Disney.com (backup link)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bald, Cameron (2020-03-13). Star Wars Commander removed from stores ahead of its closure on June 12th. PocketGamer.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved on March 14, 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2
Crush the Rebellion or Restore Freedom in Star Wars: Commander on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ Brennan Anderson (2016-03-22). Star Wars: Commander - Battle of Yavin by Brennan Anderson. SoundCloud.com. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved on January 17, 2021.
- ↑ The beginning level of Star Wars: Commander features Han Solo after he joined the Rebel Alliance. According to Star Wars: Galactic Atlas, Han joined the Rebel Alliance in 0 ABY, meaning that Commander must take place afterwards. Furthermore, the game features Darth Vader, who dies in 4 ABY, meaning that Commander must be set in between these two dates, placing it some time between 0 ABY and 4 ABY.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Calimlin, Aldrin (2014-06--25). Clash Of Clones? LucasArts Soft-Launches Star Wars: Commander For iOS. appadvice.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved on June 27, 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3
Star Wars Commander - iOS / Android - HD (Sneak Peek - Empire) Gameplay Trailer on the TouchGameplay YouTube channel (backup link)
- ↑
Star Wars Commander - iOS / Android - HD (Sneak Peek - Rebels) Gameplay Trailer on the TouchGameplay YouTube channel (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Commander Launches on Android. CheatsPulse (2014-09-18). Archived from the original on October 4, 2014.
- ↑ Grubb, Jeffrey (2014-10-22). How Disney is making Star Wars: Commander better by letting its developers go wild. Venture Beats. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved on October 23, 2014.
- ↑ Workman, Robert (2018-08-21). Zynga and Disney Working On New Star Wars Games. comicbook.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved on August 21, 2018.
- ↑ Crecente, Brian (2018-08-21). Zynga Partners With Disney for New ‘Star Wars’ Games. Variety. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved on August 21, 2018.