- "We have a great partnership with the talented folks at Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive. It is that collaboration that has enabled us to deliver a unique mobile experience that brings the vastness of the epic Star Wars franchise into the palm of your hand."
- ―John Salera, Executive Producer at EA Capital Games
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (abbreviated SWGOH) is a collectible turn-based role-playing mobile game developed by EA Capital Games and published by Electronic Arts. The game was first announced on June 15, 2015, in EA's press conference during the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo and was released on November 24 of that year.
The game allows players to collect characters from across the Star Wars saga and put those characters into turn-based combat.[4] The game features elements from the Star Wars: The Acolyte, the prequel trilogy, The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch, Tales of the Empire, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Rebels, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the original trilogy, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, the sequel trilogy and Resistance, as well as the novel Dark Disciple, the Star Wars Jedi video games, 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II, Marvel comic books and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. It also features characters from Star Wars Legends material,[5] however, due to the sandbox nature of the game, this does not canonize the characters in the current narrative acknowledged by Lucasfilm.[7]
Gameplay
Overview
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes user interface, as of 2023
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is a sandbox collector RPG where players collect characters and ships ("toons"), upgrading them and creating teams of up to 5 units which are then brought into the turn-based combat system against a group of enemy AI-controlled units and player-made teams. Team composition can be restricted by game mode (such as light side or dark side battles), and most characters work best within a team composed of their faction due to synergy bonuses. Squad battles generally involve 5 characters, whereas ship battles consist of one capital ship providing support to a fleet of 3 starfighter's and up to 4 reinforcements.
Unit Upgrades
There are many ways to upgrade a toon, with some upgrade types unique to characters and some to ships.
Ranking up a toon goes up to 7 stars, and provides access to higher levels of power, with the highest ship ability upgrades restricted to ships with high star counts, while characters are unable to reach high gear levels or equip superior mods if they are not 7 stars. The player ranks up toons by collecting shards/blueprints through a variety of methods such as certain battles, events, or through shipments.
Leveling up a character paves the way for better upgrades to be applied, such as equipping gear and relics and upgrading abilities. Gear is the primary method of increasing a character's stats, and goes up to tier 13 (tier 12 being gated by a 7 star requirement), upon which being reached relics can be applied. Upon reaching the next gear tier, the character gains additional stat bonuses beyond the gear and becomes more powerful. Abilities are unlocked as higher gear tiers are reached, and require higher character levels to upgrade - making the effects more potent. Some abilities are restricted to specific game modes due to power, and this is shown in the omicron ability materials required to upgrade to that ability. Mods can be applied upon a character reaching level 50, and provide additional stat bonuses that can be utilized to give characters an edge in combat. The most powerful mods are restricted to characters at gear tier 12 and above, further increasing the liability of having characters not at 7 stars.
Leveling up a ship doesn't open as many opportunities as leveling up a character does, since ships do not have equipable gear. Rather, they derive their stats from their crew or, in the case of uncrewed ships, their capital ship. As a ship is leveled up, it gains access to higher ability levels, except the crew abilities, the upgrades of which are gated by the crew's gear level.
Running parallel to squad development is the Datacron. This object is equipped with a squad to provide additional stats to the whole squad - similar to how mods work, but on a squad-wise basis. Datacrons max out at level 9, and every 3 levels upgraded provides an alignment, faction, and character bonus (at levels 3, 6, and 9, respectively) which applies in the Territory War, Grand Arena, and Squad arena game modes. The Datacron system rotates on a 9-monthly basis, with a new faction and characters getting bonuses for the nine months. There are three phases of Datacrons running simultaneously staggered, so that there is a new set of Datacrons with bonuses every 3 months, while the other 2 sets persist until their duration has expired. Upon expiration, Datacrons are broken down into their specific upgrade material, which can be used to upgrade the replacing set of Datacrons.
Game Modes
PVE Energy Battles
Gameplay example
These game modes run on an energy system, with most modes having their own energy type. In all of these modes except mod challenges and ship battles, an allied leader may be borrowed to grant additional bonuses to your team, and in all of these modes except light and dark side battles there are no unit restrictions. The first game modes a player unlocks are the Light and Dark side battles, in which players are restricted to units of the mode-specific alignment. These modes are a source of gear and shards/blueprints. In Cantina Battles, players battle to earn shards/blueprints and ability materials. In Mod battles and Mod challenges, which unlock at player level 50, players battle for mods and mod upgrade materials. Ship battles are the only energy based modes where a player can utilize their fleet, and is a source of higher level gear and shards/blueprints. The final energy game mode is Galactic Conquest, which is a monthly game mode that runs over the course of a fortnight and tests the breadth of a player's roster for unique rewards.
Daily PVE Battles
These game modes do not run off energy, rather a number of daily attempts. The Challenge mode (both fleet and squad) provides a daily boost to resources and runs challenges in a week long schedule. Galactic War requires a player to daily fight 12 straight battles without roster refreshing, and provides useful gear and resources in the early game.
PVP Arenas
These game modes involve a player attacking other player's teams. In Squad Arena and Fleet Arena, players use their best team to climb the rankings against the AI-controlled teams of other players, and get rewards sent daily to their inbox. In Grand Arena Championships, players fight 3 other players over the course of a week for three weeks, rising and falling divisions accordingly, before getting and end of season payout.
Events
These game modes pit players up against specific enemies for unique rewards. The Journey Guide requires players level up specific characters in order to unlock "legendary" or "epic confrontation" characters, such as requiring 5 Jedi characters at 5 stars to unlock a 5 star Grand Master Yoda, or requiring 14 characters and ships at gear tier 13 with many relics in order to unlock a Galactic Legend, the best units in the game that manipulate character stats in battle to their advantage. The events tab provides access to many limited time events that often require specific factions leveled up in order to gain rewards.
Guild Events
Upon reaching level 22, players unlock the guild function and are able to join a guild with other players, giving them access to guild events. Raids are a collaborative effort in which the guild works together to take on a massive PVE opponent and defeat it, such as a Rancor or the Sith Triumverate, gaining rewards for the damage they do. Territory battles are a 6-day long guild event in which players utilize only one side of their roster (light side or dark side) in order to fight waves of PVE enemies in order to earn stars in a themed campaign with faction-specific bonuses (such as the Geonosis: Republic Offensive territory battle providing bonuses for Jedi and Galactic Republic units) and earn rewards according to the number of stars collected. Territory War is a three day event in which the guild sets a defense then fights another guild, using the left over units to wipe out the enemy territories and gain rewards.
Development and release
- "Characters are around 8k verts and uses a 256 diffuse texture and a 256 mask channel which separates white and black values between 2 matcaps. Production time for each character is about 3 weeks."
- ―Thomas Guillory
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes user interface in 2015
Development on Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes had began as early as[9] 2014, when the old Star Wars Expanded Universe canon was rebranded as Star Wars Legends after the franchise was bought by The Walt Disney Company in 2012[10] and designs for the game had to be approved to make sure that they fited in with the new canon.[9] Galaxy of Heroes was officially announced on June 15, 2015, during that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo[1] and was first released for iOS and Android on November 24 later that year.[2] A version for PC was released on July 17, 2024.[3] The game is a live service game and is continually updated with additional characters and features.[5] Throughout it's first year, Guilds and Raids, Mods and other features were added to the game, with Ships being added on November 22, 2016.[11] Other additions include "Territory Battles" and "Territory Wars" being added in late 2017,[12] Relic Amplifiers in late 2019,[13] "Conquest" on March 1, 2021,[14] and Datacrons in June 2022.[15] For the tenth anniversary of the game, on November 18, 2025,[16] Galaxy of Heroes received it's "largest update ever to the game". The update completely overhauled parts of the game, expanding the usage of "Eras", a character grouping system which had been introduced earlier that year, with characters introduced in the game's current Eras now having their own separate sections as well as own game modes beginning with the "Coliseum" Era mode.[17]
According to 3D character artist Thomas Guillory, characters end up around "8k verts"[8]—with some larger ones like General Grievous using more verts[18] and smaller ones, like the blastomech BT-1, using less[19]—and utilize "a 256 diffuse texture and a 256 mask channel," separating black and white values between the model's matcaps. The characters' textures are mostly hand painted and it takes about three weeks for a character model to be designed.[8] Characters worked on by Guillory include the krayt dragon boss,[20] the rogue clone Omega, her pet Batcher,[21] Jedi Cal Kestis,[22] former Jedi Baylan Skoll, the dark side adept Shin Hati,[23] the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress,[8] three appearances for the scavenger-turned-Jedi Rey Skywalker,[24] as well as her dark side manifestation "Darth Rey,"[25] the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious,[26] the pirate droid SM-33,[27] Jedi librarian Jocasta Nu,[28] the Jedi Temple Guard,[29] three versions of the Jedi Knight-turned-Sith Lord Anakin Skywalker,[30] fallen Jedi Barriss Offee,[31] pirate captain Sidon Ithano,[32] the KX-series security droid K-2SO,[33] the IG-12 mech as piloted by Grogu,[34] the clone trooper-turned-pirate Kix,[35] pirate captain Silvo,[36] Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi,[37] Grievous,[18] BT-1,[19] and the Sith warrior known as "the Stranger."[38]
Most of the game's gear items[39] and various other UI items and early level environments were done by Brittany Hermann.[40] For references for the gear, Hermann used images from The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology and Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary. Two third of the gear she designed was cut when the mechanics of upgrading gear were simplified in the development progress.[9]
Reception
As of the second quartal of 2021, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes had surpassed 100 million players[41] and as of November 2023, had earned 1.5 billion US Dollars, making it EA's "biggest mobile game of all time".[42]
Media
Cover gallery
Credits
The credits are absent in the iOS version of the game.[5]
| Cast | Uncredited cast | Crew | Uncredited crew | Special thanks |
Uncredited cast
|
Crew
Lucasfilm Game Team
Lucasfilm Story Team
Lucasfilm Localization Team
Lucasfilm Art & Asset Management Team
External Partners
|
Uncredited crew
|
Special thanks
|
Andrew Kemp, Alexann Dillard, Andrew Courtemanche, Ashley Bennett, Autumn Brown, Bernard Kim, Beth Schaal, Bill Mooney, Brian Berry, Cameron Peter, Cédric Bermond, Cédrick Collomb, Chetan Maddipatla, Colin Shirley, Daniel Machen, David Morra, Deanna Jones, Deborah McIntosh, Derrick Barth, Dominique Philippine, Don Alexander, E. J. Moreland, Elisa Chan, Evgeny Kochenyuk, Gaurav Kachhawa, Gregory A. Knight, Heather Frazier, Holly Bierbaum, Hugh Smith, James Wilson, Jamie Allen, Joe Greene, John Krause, Jordan Angold, Jovana Milenkovic, Julie Soulis, Justin McCully, Kristi Stanfill, Lee Rawles, Lennart Goedhart, Lloyd Tullues, Loren Girimonte, Matthew Bromberg, Neal Alcaraz, Nick Rish, Nina Dobner, Pamela Ostroff, Patrick Yin, Rotem Ganel, Samantha Ryan, Sean Wylie-Toal, Shane Sareli, Stephen Jarrett, Tedd Dunham, Tim Schubert, Toni Marie Lopez, Troy Skinner, Andrew Breese, Vanessa Auerswald Lucasfilm Special Thanks
|
Appearances
| Characters | Organisms | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
Characters
Canon characters
Legends characters
|
|
Organisms
Canon organisms
|
Droid models
Canon droids
Legends droids
Events
Canon events
|
|
Legends events
Locations
Canon locations
Legends locations
Organizations and titles
Canon organizations and titles
Legends organizations and titles
|
Sentient species
Canon species
Legends species
Vehicles and vessels
Canon vehicles
Legends vehicles
Weapons and technology
Canon technology
Legends technology
|
|
Miscellanea
Canon miscellanea
Legends miscellanea
Sources
Notes and references
External links
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)- Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes on the App Store website (backup link)
- Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes on Google Play's official website (backup link)
- Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes on Wikipedia
