A new Star Wars: Battlefront game is reportedly in development, with Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi studio Respawn working alongside Battlefield and Battlefront developer DICE.
The information comes from “multiple sources” cited by Variety, arriving in the wake of EA’s sudden decision to lay off 400 workers, close iconic role-playing game studio BioWare, and cancel several projects. As part of a memo to staff, EA executives confirmed that Respawn and DICE are collaborating on a new project, but stopped short of revealing what it was.
The report follows days of murmurings from different sources that a third Battlefront game is in the works. It started with a rumour from Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine (via Giant Bomb), which said Disney had been on the lookout for a studio to develop Battlefront 3. The names of potential teams included DICE, and Destiny and Marathon developer Bungie.
Wardogs studio head Joe Brammer then responded to the rumour on X, saying it was actually DICE and Respawn working together on Battlefront 3 – information that now appears to be true.
In 2022, EA was said to have cancelled multiple Star Wars projects in development at the time, including a follow-up to Battlefront 2. That most recent game in the Battlefront series launched in 2017 to a mixed reception. The launch version is mostly remembered for introducing loot boxes to the series that assigned random chance to earning functional in-game characters and powers. It was universally disliked. The backlash was so disastrous it kicked off a wave of legislation worldwide that deemed loot boxes to be gambling mechanics, the fallout of which persists to this day.
DICE would end up overhauling many of those systems and removing loot boxes altogether. The developer turned Battlefront 2’s fortunes and player sentiment around, continuing to support the game for years, before releasing its final major update in 2020.
Battlefront 3 would be the first in the series to be published by the now Saudi-owned EA. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, together with investment firm Silver Lake and private equity company Affinity Partners, acquired EA in the summer for $55bn in a leveraged buyout deal.
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