DICE Still Figuring Out Direction For ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’

For far too long, Star Wars: Battlefront III made headlines about being in and out of development at various studios but ultimately every version of is was canceled. Throughout the depressing process we repeatedly made note of how if anyone should take the franchise reins it should be DICE, especially after showcasing the Frostbite 2-powered Battlefield 3. Just throw in lasers and lightsabers, right?

Through the power of the Force it came to be. Disney bought Lucasfilm which resulted in the shutdown of LucasArts and the Star Wars license being passed to publisher Electronic Arts to begin development on a multitude of triple-A Star Warsfranchises. One of them – teased at E3 2013 – was of course, the relaunch of Star Wars: Battlefront, a property DICE is now working on and one they“begged” to do.

From the get-go, the team at DICE had big plans to “innovate” with Battlefront, to make it not only next-gen appropriate (obviously with the upgraded Frostbite 3) but to make it different from other shooters and different than the Battlefieldseries, for which the Battlefront games were largely ‘inspired’ (read: cloned) from. Speaking with VideoGamer during Gamescom, Battlefield 4 executive producer Patrick Bach spoke on whether or not their take on Star Wars would be more like Battlefield or something different and it turns out that they don’t really know.

“We haven’t really locked that down yet. I think there’s of course a part of the DICE DNA to build the games that we’re building, but then again we’re building games like Mirror’s Edge as well. So I think it will be a challenge for us. [You’re] damned if you do, damned if you don’t. People don’t want another Battlefield with Star Wars graphics; they want a Star Wars game that is proper… But then again, if you compromise brilliant design choices from Battlefield just because you’re not allowed from some kind of moral standpoint, then I think that’s also wrong. We need to make the best game possible. What that means in detail, we will see.”

The most exciting word yet associated with Star Wars: Battlfront is “innovative” and we hope that means it’s going to be different and bigger than Battlefield 4. When throwing in gargantuan Imperial walkers with fast-moving aerial vehicles and space combat, it sounds like some of those skirmishes (see:Hoth battle) almost need to support more than 64 players. And why not? With the PS4 and Xbox One both supporting cloud computing, it’s possible. It’s just up to the efforts of DICE and we hope they blow us away. The Star Wars game franchise sure could use it.

Go Big Or Go Home

Look at what EVE Online and DUST 514 are doing in mixing infantry combat with the space-based MMO. Battlefront is the right IP to take that to the next level of gameplay, letting players grab a ship on the ground and fly it out the atmosphere themselves (a planned feature for Battlefront 3) and into a space battle and vice versa. That still hasn’t been done. Oh, and don’t forget to include Oculus Rift support!

Star Wars: Battlefront is planned for release in summer 2015, around the expected release date of Star Wars: Episode 7 in theaters.

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‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ Releasing Summer 2015, Coinciding With Episode 7 Release

Even without revealing any actual details or gameplay footage, one of the most exciting announcements that came from E3 2013 and Electronic Arts’ Media Briefing was the confirmation that developer DICE is developing Star Wars: Battlefront. A third installment in the Battlefront series is something fans (and our team at Game Rant) have waited on for years, and when rumors surfaced periodically of its developments and cancellations, one thing we’ve written into our content is that DICE – the makes of the Battlefield series and Frosbite 2/3 game engines – should take the reins for that series. It would be the perfect match, since Battlefront drew its inspiration from Battlefield, the flagship franchise of DICE.

It is the perfect match and through destiny, or perhaps the Force, a series of interesting events led to Disney buying Lucasfilm, shutting down LucasArts and signing an exclusive licensing deal with EA to produce multiple triple-A Star Warsgames, the first of which is Battlefront… in development at DICE, who begged to take on the project. But when will the game release?

According to CFO Blake Jorgensen, speaking at today’s EA investors meeting, the targeted release date for Star Wars: Battlefront is “most likely” in summer 2015 for the most obvious reason that it’s when Star Wars: Episode VII will be hitting theaters and relaunching the film franchise.

What this means it that not only will the unnumbered Battlefront game draw from the existing lore and films, notably the epic Hoth battle as revealed in the Star Wars: Battlefront E3 teaser (and promised thereafter), but it’s almost a certainty that it’ll also feature weapons, vehicles and maps based on the Episode VII, if not in the main game, then in DLC – something Battlefield 3 & 4 took fulladvantage of.

With Battlefront and Titanfall, EA has two games to make up for the failure of Medal of Honor to take off as a lucrative shooter franchise. With these two games and the Battlefront series, EA can better compete with Activision’s genre-leading Call of Duty series and the highly anticipated Destiny series from Bungie.

The 2015 release date also is a bit of a relief in that the game will be much more than a reskinned total conversion of Battlefield 4. With that much time, they’re able to build the game and its unique mechanics from the ground up. Bring on the Snowspeeders roping down AT-AT walkers, bring on the speeder bikes, and bring on the X-Wings! DICE did promise the game will “innovate.”

Expect Star Wars: Battlefront on PC, PS4 and Xbox One… in about two years.

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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).

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DICE’s ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ Will ‘Innovate’

 

We’ve been asking for it for years, a Frostbite 2 powered Star Wars: Battlefront 3 from developer DICE, and it’s actually happening. It began as a pipedream on our part for the repeatedly postponed/canceled third installment in the Star Warsversion of Battlefield but through a stroke of luck – perhaps destiny – Disney shutdown LucasArts, licensed Star Wars to Electronic Arts, and there began the development of what we all want
Star Wars: Battlefront drops the “3″ but picks it up in its next-gen game engine, the Frostbite 3, and was teased with a short cinematic clip from the battle of Hoth. And that’s all we needed. With Battlefield 4 representing one of the highlights of E3 2013 last week, fans have much to look forward to from the Battlefront relaunch, but don’t worry, it’s not just going to be a re-skinned version of what DICE already has.


Speaking with IGN during E3, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau explained why DICE is the perfect developer for Star Wars: Battlefront (we agree!)


“Battlefront is a vehicle experience, it’s a character experience. DICE has proven, in how they develop Battlefield, as far as being able to do air, land, sea combat, all the way up to F-18s fighting. They’ve been able to demonstrate through the Frostbite tech and through their design capabilities and talent that they can create these huge, epic set-piece wars. That’s kind of the dream of Battlefront. Hoth, the battle of Hoth. You’ve got space, you’ve got the surface, you’ve got infantry, you’ve got AT-ATs. That’s the table stakes that they come in with. They know how to do that. They’re really good at it.”

While we’d almost be happy enough with a total conversion of Battlefield 3/4, that’s not the plan. Star Wars: Battlefront will be different and promises to “innovate.”


“They’re going to bring their own sensibilities and design ideas. We want to innovate. We want to try new things. You guys had a blog on your site that said, ‘hey, what would you like to see in Battlefront?’ There’s a lot of stuff in there that we’re planning on doing. There’s a lot of new stuff that we’re looking at too. From our perspective, it’s capturing that epic, Star Wars, all-out huge scale. That’s what we’ll go after.”

We can only hope this refers to rumored gameplay features from Battlefront 3which included the ability to fly from a planetary surface through the atmosphere and into a space battle seamlessly. That’s what next-gen Star Wars should be. Let’s also hope for more players. We’d all love to see the Battle of Hoth have not only five gigantic AT-AT walkers, but dozens of speeders to go along with hundreds of ground troops. Maybe that’s a fanboy wish, but if you’re going to hype up Frosbite 3 and innovation, let’s see Star Wars back at the top of gaming, where it used to be in the ’90s.

We wouldn’t be upset of the prequels were left out of the game. If you missed it, here’s an hour of gameplay footage from the canceled pre-alpha build of Battlefront III.

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‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ Teaser Trailer: DICE Promises Frostbite 3 Hoth Battle

After months of speculation, fan-favorite developer DICE has revealed that they are currently working on Star Wars: Battlefront – a modern follow-up to the classic LucasArts game series. For nearly half a year Star Wars gamers have been trying to make sense of a sudden cancellation that left Battlefront 3 on the cutting room floor. While Disney’s acquisition of LucasArts caused a lot of anxiety about the fate of in-development projects, and resulted in the untimely abandonment of third-person shooter Star Wars 1313, Battlefront 3 was reportedly 99% complete at the time of its cancellation.

The exact reason for terminating the nearly-complete project is still the subject of speculation and it may be awhile before we have a clear picture of the game’s development timeline; however, with the teaser trailer and E3 2013 press conference reveal, we now have official confirmation that Battlefield series developer DICE will be delivering a new entry in the series (which may or may not actually be titled Battlefront 3).

Of course, the teaser is nothing more than a cool CGI clip, depicting an non-descript player character trudging through the Hoth snow as Imperial laser fire flashes on the screen. Seconds later a crashing Rebel Snowspeeder erupts out of the dense snowfall – followed by the foot of an AT-AT walker. The teaser sets the stage for epic conflict (set in a galaxy far, far way), especially if the game delivers the same Triple-A action of the studio’s upcoming Battlefield 4, but does not contain actual gameplay footage – meaning it’s still unclear how much (if any) of Free Radical Design’s cancelled Battlefront 3 ideas and assets have been utilized in the forthcoming DICE version.

The trailer does not specifically address which platforms Electronic Arts intends to support, though Xbox One, PS4, and PC are safe bets, the official Star Wars page confirms (unsurprisingly) that the game will utilize DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine.

Since EA has already gone on record, stating that there will not be any new Star Wars games until 2014, it’s not a shock that they used E3 2013 to confirm the project – allowing plenty of time for further reveals down the line. In fact, there’s no guarantee that this particular game will even launch in 2014. That said, considering gamers have been following news of the sequel’s active development for over three years, it’s hard to imagine that DICE would announce their involvement without a plan to release Battlefront by the start of 2015.

After all, a Star Wars: Battlefront 2014 release could help build excitement for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode 7 – as well as leave room for Electronic Arts to deliver a movie tie-in or spin-off game in 2015.

We’ll keep you up to date as DICE reveals official Battlefront details.

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