If you’ve been online at all over the past few weeks, you’ll have run into a comment or two dozen asking, ‘Where’s Battlefront 3?’ Thanks to a pop culture cocktail of Revenge of the Sith’s 20th anniversary re-release, Andor coming to an end, and the dedicatedFortniteseason, everyone is itching for a large-scale multiplayer Star Wars experience.Battlefront 2is scratching that itch as millions flock back to it. But with support poetically axed on the beaches of Scarif, it was only a matter of time before the old rallying cry for a sequel started up again.
I would love nothing more than a new Battlefront game, but that ship sailed years ago when EA put the series to bed to focus on the misguidedBattlefield 2042. It’s desperately trying to course correct right now with Battlefield 6,involving the community in more pointed playtests, while bringing several studios together under a Battlefield-branded umbrella. That means Motive, Dice, Criterion, and Ripple Effect are all busy working to save the once domineeringCall of Dutycompetitor.
It’s unlikely that EA will buckle under the pressure ofwhimpering fan petitions, especially as itcancels licensed projects like Black Pantherandthe Respawn-developed Star Wars FPSto focus on its in-house heavy hitters. Even if it did, those four studios have Battlefield 6 to finish and support, and it would take years to develop a new Battlefront game, which would be barebones without all of the post-launch updates, anyway. There’s a fervournow, but a decade from now, will any of us still care?
Battlefront 3 isn’t the right move, but that doesn’t mean EA should ignore the series completely.
Bring Back Battlefront 2 Instead
Before it was unceremoniously shot down by EA like a certain Rodian in a Mos Eisley cantina, Battlefront 2 was on track for some of the most exciting updates in its history. Former creative director Dennis Brännvall,who left DICE after EA rejected his Battlefront 3 pitch, revealed that there “may or may not have been” plans for Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, and Mustafar in a “Clone Wars drop” that would have followed Scarif.
They were heavily rumoured in the months before support ended as their voice lines were unearthed in the game’s files.
There’s so much untapped potential left in Battlefront 2, a game that’s still going strong after eight years. EA doesn’t need to throw all of that away and begin again with a clean slate, as the community has so eagerly proven by repopulating the servers and bringing the Galactic War back online.
Instead of going back to basics, EA could greenlight a current-gen update or ‘remaster’ with cross-platform support, restarting the schedule of post-launch updates and finishing what Dice started — finally tying into all of the Star Wars shows that have been offered up in the last few years. Just imagine the potential: Baylan Skoll, The Mandalorian, Moff Gideon, Kanan Jarrus, Saw Gerrera. There’s a well that’s being left sorely untapped.
It’s a pipe dream as much as Battlefront 3, but one that feels far more achievable.Former devs want to “get the gang back together”already, and there was a surprisingly healthy repertoire between the community and its devs, with dedicated fans clinging on despite the game’s infamously rocky launch. We’ve weathered the Darth Vader grind and infamous loot box controversy, which Brännvall himself described as “rock bottom”. A hiatus is nothing.
Granted, EA doesn’t have the license anymore, and it doesn’t seem all that interested in Star Wars beyond the Jedi series, which will likely conclude with its third game anyway. Battlefield Studios, meanwhile, puts the focus squarely on reviving the exhausted carcass of its flagship shooter series, leaving little room for a spin-off in a galaxy far, far away.
I’m not sure there’s a world where Dice brings back Battlefront; at best, Disney might shop around and ask someone else to make it. But I don’t care about sequels or reboots. We have a great game sitting right here, one that everyone is falling head over heels for again. Thaw it out of its carbonite shell. That’s more than enough.
