EA Confirms ‘Third-Person Component’ in ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’; Well Into Development

Following rumors that linked fan-favorite shooter studio DICE to development onStar Wars: Battlefront, updates on the highly-anticipated title have been relatively scarce. An E3 teaser trailer for Battlefront gave gamers a (very) brief glimpse at the epic scale DICE has planned for the project – featuring a Rebel Snowspeeder an AT-AT walker during the iconic Battle of Hoth. Of course, the teaser didn’t offer many concrete details – other than confirmation that the game would run on DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine.

However, just because the studio hasn’t been shotgunning gameplay footage across the Internet, doesn’t mean that they’re only in the early stages of delivering the next Battlefront installment.

Speaking to investors during Electronic Arts’ Fiscal Year 2014 Quarter 1 earnings call, EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau offered an update on their next Galaxy Far, Far Away shooter experience – claiming that the title is “well into development.” The update shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the game’s lengthy journey from cancellation (while at Free Radical)to suggestions that DICE practically “begged” to take on development – even before Disney officially shuttered LucasArts.

Reflecting on the response to the Battlefront teaser and pre-release buzz, here’s the full quote from Gibeau:

“We showed 22 seconds of where we’re going with it and the fan response was very positive. The DICE team is well into development on that product already, so we feel very bullish about our shooter rotation over the next several years.”

No official release date has been set for Star Wars: Battlefront but many gamers are expecting the title to fall into an alternating release schedule alongside the studio’s Battlefield series – to help prevent franchise fatigue. Gibeau’s suggestion that the publisher is confident in their “shooter rotation over the next several years” certainly lends credence to this line of thinking. If that turns out to be the case, players might only have to wait until Holiday 2014 to get their hands on the title – since Battlefield 4 is scheduled to launch later this year. Still, with Activision cranking out annual Call of Duty branded releases, it’s possible that EA still intends to annualize the Battlefield series – and that the rotation will actually be betweenBattlefront and the Medal of Honor games instead.

Still, claims that Battlefront will “innovate” could also mean that, even though the studio is “well into development,” they’ve still got a long way to go – and a 2015 launch (following the enormous buzz around a 2015 release for Star Wars: Episode 7) is still a possibility.

EA has yet to detail what they mean by “innovate” but Gibeau did confirm one feature on the call: “A third-person component.” Prior Battlefront games allowed for the ability to switch between first and third-person perspectives – and, following Gibeau’s comment, it’s likely the option will also be included in DICE’s iteration (at least in some form).