Star Wars Battlefront 3 Is Reportedly Happening, But Not With the Studio Some Expected

There have been several rumors surrounding the development of Star Wars Battlefront 3, or the next game in the Battlefront series tied to arguably the largest franchise in fiction. It’s been almost ten years since the release of DICE’s Battlefront 2, with the developer behind the Battlefield series supporting that game for quite a long time after its launch. With Battlefront 2‘s revival in past years, it makes sense that publisher Electronic Arts (EA) would eventually green light another title, but new details suggest its creation might not be as straightforward as players think.

Different reports from Bloomberg have confirmed the existence of a new Battlefront game being in development, although it’s unclear if its title will officially be called Star Wars Battlefront 3. This comes after EA shutdown initial ideas of a Battlefront sequel back in 2017, due to licensing fees for Star Wars implemented by Disney. However, this Battlefront 3 project happening right now is not just being made by DICE again, as studio Respawn Entertainment are teaming up in equal partnership to create the game as well.

Early Rumors of Bungie’s Involvement in Battlefront 3 Shut Down After Confirmation of Dice & Respawn Partnership

The partnership of Respawn and DICE isn’t too big of a shocking turn of events when you realize that Respawn is already behind some of Star Wars biggest games right now, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. That series of action RPGs is also set to complete its trilogy, but with Respawn’s familiarity with shooters through their creation of Titanfall and Apex Legends, it makes sense that they would collaborate on a new Battlefront project. That being said, initial reports suggested that DICE would pair up with other studios not in EA’s umbrella already.

The biggest name to come up in the first theories for Battlefront 3 was Bungie, the makers of early Halo games, the Destiny series, and the recent extraction shooter Marathon. Bungie’s expertise in sci-fi shooting would have made them a great candidate for Battlefront 3, but their recent struggles with Destiny‘s shutdown and layoffs mandated by Sony and PlayStation have made their ability to start new projects somewhat doubtful. Although Bungie has released statements confirming their commitment to Destiny 2 and Marathon, the restructure at that studio means they’re unlikely to take on partnerships to the scale that Battlefront 3 might demand.

In retrospect, the Respawn connection seems obvious, but to have the confirmation solidifies the truth behind the rumors of Battlefield 3 at all. The fact that multiple studios who have Star Wars projects under their belt are coming together means that the existence of Battlefront 3 or some Battlefront endeavor is more real than ever. What is surprising about these reports is that DICE is handing over development to another EA associated team at all, since they handled the first two “modern” Battlefront games completely on their own.

Respawn’s Experience With the Star Wars: Jedi Series Makes Them Perfectly Qualified to Help Create Battlefront 3

Respawn has already shown that they know what aspects of the Star Wars universe can be the most interesting, especially with the successful reception to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. That game was a marvelous single-player action RPG starring original, interesting characters, with players able to choose from multiple combat styles across varied open world levels. A strong narrative in the Star Wars: Jedi games could make up for the lackluster single-player campaign attempted in Star Wars Battlefront 2, even if that game had some strong moments.

With Respawn’s experience with Apex Legends too, the developers understand what it takes to develop exciting gunplay in large, over-the-top battle situations. Combined with DICE’s familiarity with Battlefield and Battlefront, and you have a recipe for a really exciting entry in the celebrated simulated army battle franchise integral to Star Wars‘ gaming history. As of this moment, there is no information regarding how far in development Battlefront 3 is, or whether it will follow some of the same gameplay designs DICE has established with the past two games.

Hopefully, this title will be the biggest in the series yet, and release without the PC performance problems both Respawn and DICE have struggled with when it comes to past Star Wars games. Current projections say that this game is still far away from completion, likely targeting a late 2028 release if everything goes according to plan. With EA shutting down studio BioWare this year, though, Star Wars Battlefront 3 is a project that could still face a variety of hardships at DICE and Respawn Entertainment before being revealed to the public.

What are your thoughts on DICE and Respawn working together on Battlefront 3? Let us know in the comments below!

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