Star Wars Battlefront II Temporarily Removes Emperor Palpatine

Two new hotfixes have been revealed for Star Wars Battlefront II in an effort to fix the Challenges issue on the front menu, as well as a few other high priority bug fixes to be repaired immediately. Luckily, most of the issues seem to be wrapped up, with a few tappered off to be fixed with the second hotfix planned this week. Unfortunately, there was a character casualty.

EA took to the game's official forums to explain, "The first one is that challenges would sometimes be delayed when you first reached the primary menu. Challenges should now appear as expected. The second is in relation to the challenges sometimes 'spamming' popups upon completion. You should now only get the notification once."

The reason these two hotfixes were split is because they tackled two different areas. "We have to strike a balance between the quality of the fixes and the priority of them" they explained.

The fixes are currently being tested, reproduced, and tested again before they deploy to make sure everything is fully operation by the time the second hotfix hits. Thorough, and the playerbase appreciates the transparency about what exactly is targeted and why. Here's the latest status update we have so far:

• Challenges delayed on front menu – fixed
• Challenge completion spam – fixed
• Emperor Palpatine – We plan to execute our Kill Switch (KS) for him. This means he will be removed from the game. He will be disabled until a hotfix can be deployed. We don't take this decision lightly, but we feel it is in the best interest for everyone until a fix can be deployed.
• Stormtroopers unable to board shuttle in Ewok Hunt – Currently working on a fix to this, plan is to have this included in the next hotfix.
• Hardlock stutter in Hero Starfighters – Plan to be fixed in the hotfix.
• Stamina – Plans to make some changes to the stamina system, to go live in the hotfix.

So long and farewell, Emperor Palpatine, but at least we know he'll be coming back soon.

Star Wars Battlefront II is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. What are your thoughts on how the team is handling player communication and bugs within the game? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!