Jeff Grubb Clarifies Star Wars Battlefront 3 Rumours
If there's one thing we love, it's an epic Star Wars game. Whether it's imagining we're Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star, or Obi-Wan taking on Anakin Skywalker in a lightsaber duel, the growing galaxy of Star Wars titles brings George Lucas' wide world to life. Among the best at capturing the spirit of the Jedi are the Battlefront games.
Pandemic Studios first launched Battlefront under LucasArts in 2004, with the simple aim of replicating the massive battles of the galaxy far, far away. Following two main games and various spin-offs, Disney took the reins to Star Wars and rebooted the Battlefront name with the confusingly titled 2015 game of the same name. We had 2017's Battlefront II, but just like the previous generation never saw a full-blown Battlefront III, EA is yet to make good on its potential.
Is Star Wars Battlefront 3 On The Way?
Star Wars is everywhere right now, and with Star Wars Celebration coming at the end of this month, we're expecting some major gaming announcements. Alongside a closer look at Respawn Entertainment's Fallen Order 2, a rumoured announcement of Battlefront 3 has been doing the rounds. Don't get your (new) hopes up just yet.
Explaining why we won't get Battlefront 3 at Star Wars Celebration, industry insider Jeff Grubb simply responded "absolutely not" when asked whether Respawn is working on a secret Battlefront. It was only in January that Respawn confirmed it has three Star Wars games in the pipeline, with two mystery titles being a first-person shooter and a strategy game.
The news was met with a mixed response. It's clear there's an appetite for Battlefront, but maybe just not from DICE. One critic wrote, "I want battlefront 3, but as a sequel to the pandemic games, not Dice's reboot." Another added, "I'll take another reboot. Better than DICE Battlefront II being the last one ever made." It's another kicker, as last year, there were uncorroborated claims that EA cancelled Battlefront 3 because of Battlefield 2042's abysmal reception.
Why We Probably Won't See Battlefront 3 (Yet)
Click to enlargeLet's remember that it was Battlefront II which triggered that massive microtransaction debate that rocked the industry and left EA open to attacks from all sides. Since then, we've seen the middling success of the Battlefront-esque Squadrons - suggesting that the genre might've run its course for now. The games have always been a faithful reimagining of the source material, while Battlefront II's Iden Versio was a great creation we could imagine popping up in a Disney+ show. Then again, we never really came to Battlefront for the single-player story.
While EA once had the keys to the kyber crystals, the Star Wars licence has been diluted across the galaxy. We still have high hopes for the assured success of Fallen Order 2 from EA, but with Ubisoft working on an open-world Star Wars game and Quantic Dream charging forward with Star Wars Eclipse, EA is far from the Sith overlord it once was. Even if Battlefront 3 is out there somewhere, we'd guess it's marooned on Ahch-To for now until EA lets the fallout of its loot box war die down a little more.