Single-Player Was Never On The Cards For Star Wars Battlefront; DICE Talks Creative Pressure

While its absence took many by surprise upon its initial reveal, DICE General Manager Patrick Bach has revealed that single-player was “never in the plan” for Star Wars Battlefront, stating that the creative team made it their priority to allow budding fans to relive some of the most famous battles from the original trilogy.

Overall, though, the decision to omit the feature was part of DICE’s ambition to remain faithful to the franchise’s roots, which has traditionally placed a heavy emphasis on multiplayer shootouts over single-player experiences.

Speaking to GameSpot during the course of E3, here’s what Bach had to say on the matter at hand:

To be honest, single-player was never in the plan. It was never the concept. The concept for us was always that we wanted players to re-live the battles. We wanted them to play the battles from the original movies. And DICE, coming from its Battlefield background, knows how to make awesome battles in that context.

We were also thinking about the Battlefront franchise, which has multiplayer at its core.

As for development in general, Bach admitted that the team at DICE – widely considered to be one of the industry’s best – felt the immense pressure of handling such an established and prestigious IP. In fact, the GM even went so far as to say that he’s never heard the expression “do not f*** this up” more in his entire career.

Not only does this exemplify the studio’s painstaking commitment to detail, but it shows just how much control EA is exercising on the project itself. Couple this with the disastrous launch of Battlefield 4 – DICE’s most recent mainline release prior to Star Wars Battlefront – and it’s evident that the company is facing an uphill battle to win over its legions of fans.

Make no mistake, Battlefront continues to look excellent in preview footage, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that the creators behind those razor-sharp pixels are facing their own trials and tribulations.

It’s a different pressure, and of course it’s stupid for us to put ourselves under more pressure. There’s a very… avid Star Wars following, who all want Battlefront to be great. I’ve never heard the expression “do not f*** this up” as many times as I have with this. So that’s where it starts. We get it, “don’t f*** this up.”

Star Wars Battlefront will hope to reinvigorate a dormant giant when DICE’s shooter launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on November 17.