Star Wars Battlefront II released back in November 2017 and, with the might of the Star Wars license behind it, sold fairly well. With the original Battlefront coming two years before that, you might expect that we’d start hearing news about Battlefront III around now. But when it comes to this title, things aren’t so simple. Despite a raft of well-produced DLC, Star Wars Battlefront II never managed to shake the stigma that it was designed to squeeze as much money out of players as possible.
Perhaps secretly acknowledging that the Battlefront brand might be irrevocably damaged, Dennis Brännvall of DICE explained to PCGamesN that the title won’t receive a sequel, saying:
“Sequels are probably still viable otherwise people wouldn’t be doing them, but it’s not the same hunger as it used to be. We were so used to the chain of sequels, where we do a sequel then we do a season pass for a year then move onto the next game. I think the industry has changed on that… before it was very transactional and we made the game and we signed up for 4 DLCs and then that’s it. This time around we’re not doing it that way.”
My bet is that Disney has stepped in and told EA that they’re not particularly happy with the Star Wars license becoming so associated with predatory gambling mechanics that questions were asked about the title in parliaments around the world. Around the time of its release, and at the height of the bad publicity, there were reports that Disney CEO Bob Iger angrily called up EA CEO Andrew Wilson and told him to fix the situation immediately. Overnight, EA backtracked on their plans, but it’s safe to say the damage to the Battlefront brand had already been done.
To the relief of most people, EA appears to be redirecting their efforts away from multiplayer titles and towards contained single-player adventures. We’ll see the fruits of that when Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order lands on November 15th. In the meantime, I certainly won’t mourn the end of Star Wars Battlefront. Will you?