Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a first- and third-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Xbox in 2003. Vicarious Visions was responsible for the development of the Xbox version. The game is a sequel to 2002's Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and the fourth and final installment in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series. The single-player story, set in the fictional Star Wars expanded universe two years after Jedi Outcast, follows Jaden Korr, a new student at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy under the tutelage of the previous games' protagonist, Kyle Katarn. As Jaden, players are tasked with investigating a Dark Jedi cult called the Disciples of Ragnos, while slowly learning the ways of the Force and committing themselves to either the light side or the dark side.

Lucasfilm Games is an American video game licensor and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a larger 1990 reorganization of the Lucasfilm divisions, the video game development division was grouped and rebranded as part of LucasArts. LucasArts became known for its line of adventure games based on its SCUMM engine in the 1990s, including Maniac Mansion, the Monkey Island series, and several Indiana Jones titles. A number of influential game developers were alumni of LucasArts from this period, including Brian Moriarty, Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, and Dave Grossman. Later, as Lucasfilm regained control over its licensing over the Star Wars franchise, LucasArts produced numerous action-based Star Wars titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while dropping adventure game development due to waning interest in the genre.