The Outlook on the Continuation of 'Star Wars Battlefront' Series
It's about damn time gamers and Star Wars enthusiasts started screamin' for another freakin' Star Wars Battlefront game! DICE's Battlefront II from 2017 has seen a resurgence in popularity recently, with its player count on PC skyrocketin', and the community hopin' to capitalize on the momentum with a global event to boost its numbers and showcase the heart of the Battlefront community.
This revival has been spurred on by Star Wars Day and Andor star Muhannad Ben Amor (who played Wilmon) callin' for another entry: "Grew up with Battlefront II; been a veteran since day one, let's hope a Battlefront III happens."
Over nearly 20 years, the multiplayer shooter series has had two lives. The first pair were released during the Star Wars prequel era and developed by the late Pandemic Studios, while the second, more recent bunch come from Battlefield developer DICE. Neither have made it to number three, but one version nearly happened; a Battlefront III for the original series was in development from several developers, including Timesplitters creator Free Radical Design. Before EA claimed the Star Wars game license, LucasArts attempted to reboot the series with an online-only entry, a smaller scale multiplayer entry, and a fourth game set in an alternate reality where Obi-wan and Luke were Sith Lords, but nothing came of these efforts. Once DICE stopped supporting its Battlefront II in 2020, the sub-series vanished once again.
The debate about whether Star Wars Battlefront can make a comeback and why it should comes back is tricky. Making games for this property ain't always easy. Some of the most famous Star Wars games are the ones that never saw the light of day, like the Boba Fett-starring 1313 or third entries for Knights of the Old Republic and Force Unleashed, two sub-series that coexisted with Battlefront. Even EA had its troubles; it scrapped a pirate-focused project from Visceral Games and Motive Studios, and more recently killed a first-person shooter centered on a Mandalorian that was in the works over at Respawn, creators of the acclaimed Star Wars Jedi games.
DICE is now focused entirely on the next Battlefield game, with several other EA studios lendin' a hand. That means another Battlefront isn't likely to come from EA, let alone any time soon. Former live producer on Battlefront II, Mats Holm, recently said as such on Reddit, instead proposing a remaster of the previous game as a stepping stone before developing a proper sequel, ideally with anyone from the previous team who wanted to work on it. A remaster would be the best shot, but the problem there lies with EA; while the Pandemic-made Battlefront games have been remastered, Electronic Arts can be choosier than other publishers about what it decides to remaster or remake.
Since 2019's Fallen Order, Star Wars has kept its eye on single-player titles, including Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws and 2026's Zero Company from Bit Reactor. Other than the space combat-focused Star Wars Squadrons, EA hasn't recommitted to Star Wars multiplayer, possibly because the controversy surrounding Battlefront II's initial monetization was so damning and heavily criticized, it's the reason why the publisher no longer owns the rights to create licensed games for the franchise. And then there's Fortnite: thanks to the recent "Galactic Battle" tie-in event, numerous in-game skins for several franchise characters, and the plot-important audio log that confirms Palpatine somehow returned for Rise of Skywalker, Epic Games' battle royale has become the most important multiplayer shooter the franchise could ever need.
Both previous incarnations of Star Wars Battlefront existed at a time where they could be the only place where all of the franchise could exist. Battlefront II was already marketed as a unification point for all three trilogies, and as part of the game's rehabilitation efforts, DICE threw everything it had and more into post-launch updates that incorporated maps, weapons, and characters from the sequels, prequels, Rogue One, and Solo. Since DICE ended support for the game in 2019, Star Wars hasn't made consistent progress that would justify a real Battlefront III happening.
Come 2026, Mandalorian and Grogu will likely get a Fortnite tie-in of some kind, as will the Disney+ series Maul: Shadow Lord and the 2027 Starfighter film. Like Andor's Lonni Jung, Star Wars has found itself trapped in the web of Epic Games, and it's doubtful Disney will cut that partnership any time soon.
Hope for a Star Wars Battlefront III may never truly die, no matter how much the odds are stacked against it. But as Star Wars enters a new phase of its life that promises more movies and shows, and hopes to explore a time during and after the sequels, one has to wonder how it would fit into the franchise's plans, and who will be around for it at a time when online games, regardless of their size, are quick to be discarded.
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- io9 reports that the revival of Star Wars Battlefront has been sparked due to the call from Muhannad Ben Amor, star of Andor, for a Battlefront III.
- Despite two lives of the multiplayer shooter series, neither version has reached a third installment, with even EA abandoning supporting Battlefront II in 2020.
- Gizmodo notes that other studios have expressed interest in remastering the previous game as a stepping stone before developing a proper sequel, ideally with members of the previous team.
- In a future where sports-betting might be common, one could place a wager on whether Star Wars Battlefront III will ever see the light of day, given the current focus on single-player titles and the past difficulties in developing games for the Star Wars franchise.
