| Star Wars: Battlefront | |
|---|---|
 Logo underElectronic Arts | |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter Third-person shooter |
| Developer(s) | Pandemic Studios (2004–05) Free Radical Design (2006–08) Rebellion Developments (2007–09) Slant Six Games (2009–10) LucasArts (2008–13) EA DICE (since 2013) Criterion Games (2016–2017) Motive Studios (since 2017) |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts (2004–09) Electronic Arts (2015–17) Aspyr (2024) |
| Platform(s) | Windows PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Nintendo DS Nintendo Switch Mobile phone Xbox Xbox One Xbox Series X/S |
| First release | Star Wars: Battlefront September 21, 2004 |
| Latest release | Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection March 14, 2024 |
| Parent series | Star Wars video games |
Star Wars: Battlefront is a series offirst- andthird-person shooter video games based on theStar Wars franchise. Players take the role ofcharacters from the franchise in either of two opposing factions in different time periods of theStar Wars universe. The series was launched in 2004 byLucasArts withStar Wars: Battlefront, developed byPandemic Studios for LucasArts. The game received positive reviews and sold well. In 2005 Pandemic developed a sequel,Star Wars: Battlefront II, which was also critically and commercially successful.
The games were followed byStar Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (2007) andStar Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (2009) forhandheld game consoles andStar Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons (2009) for mobile devices. LucasArts made several attempts to develop a third majorBattlefront game but no projects were released beforeThe Walt Disney Company's acquisition of LucasArts. Subsequently,Electronic Arts (EA) acquired an exclusive license to develop consoleStar Wars titles from Lucasfilm, leading to the development of a reboot, titledStar Wars Battlefront from developerDICE, which was released on November 17, 2015. A sequel,Star Wars Battlefront II, was released on November 17, 2017, and was co-developed by EA DICE,Criterion Games, andMotive Studio. A collection of the first two entries in the original series ported to modern platforms byAspyr, titledStar Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, was released on March 14, 2024.
| 2004 | Star Wars: Battlefront |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Star Wars: Battlefront II |
| 2006 | |
| 2007 | Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron |
| 2008 | |
| 2009 | Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons |
| Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron | |
| 2010 | |
| 2011 | |
| 2012 | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | |
| 2015 | Star Wars Battlefront |
| 2016 | |
| 2017 | Star Wars Battlefront II |
| 2018 | |
| 2019 | |
| 2020 | |
| 2021 | |
| 2022 | |
| 2023 | |
| 2024 | Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection |
Games in theBattlefront series normally revolve around two armies – theGalactic Republic versus theConfederacy of Independent Systems or theGalactic Empire versus theRebel Alliance orFirst Order versus theResistance – fighting each other on various maps. Maps take place in theStar Wars galaxy, with battlezones varying in theme and size. Across the battlefield are multiple "command posts" (objectives) that act as spawn points, and can be controlled by either the player or the computer. Units can spawn from any friendly command post, and vehicles regularly spawn at their respective command posts when destroyed. Units can capture neutral or hostile command posts by approaching them and standing within the immediate vicinity for about 30 seconds. The time to capture quickens with more friendly units within the capture zone. Some vehicles act as mobile command posts, and must be destroyed as they can not be captured. On some maps (such asHoth orEndor), certain structures also act as command posts that can not be captured. Command post capturing works differently on certain campaign missions as well. Playable heroes and villains play a significant role in changing the course of battles.
The objective of most matches is to eliminate all of the opponents' reinforcement tickets or to capture the command points, to slowly chip away at their tickets. Reinforcement tickets are used whenever a unit is killed, or when one faction controls a majority of the command posts on the map (usually when the losing faction only has 2–3). Only one objective needs to be completed. When all command posts are captured, the team with no command posts has twenty seconds to recapture or neutralize an enemy command post. If the team cannot take over a post in this time, the match is over. Certain campaign levels and multiplayer have requirements that differ from the general game play, however the general structure remains the same. The game's "Conquest" mode is vaguely based on theBattlefield game mode of the same name.
The first console games of the series were developed by Pandemic Studios, and since 2015, a second series of consoleBattlefront games has been developed by EA DICE.Battlefront II (2017) is the first in the series to accurately follow the canon of the films, while the games developed by Pandemic Studios were relegated toStar Wars Legends non-canonical status, along with all of the games in the series released before November 2015.
Star Wars: Battlefront is the first installment in theBattlefront series. It was released on September 21, 2004, with a Mac port byAspyr released in July 2005. The game is available onMicrosoft Windows,PlayStation 2,Xbox,Mac OS, andmobile phones. Jedi are not playable in this game without the help of modified files unsupported byLucasArts. Other NPCs made playable by similar files include, but are not limited to,Tusken Raiders in the Dune Sea ofTatooine,Ewoks ofEndor andGungans on theNaboo plains.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is the second installment in theBattlefront series, released in Europe on October 31, 2005 – for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, and Windows – and in North America one day later. There are some significant differences betweenBattlefront andBattlefront II.Battlefront II includes playable Jedi characters, space battles, and story campaigns, as well asStar Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith-related content. The release date ofBattlefront II coincided with the release ofRevenge of the Sith on DVD. The game is now an XboxPlatinum Hits game, aSony Greatest Hits game in North America, and anXbox Classics and PlayStation Platinum game in Europe.
Battlefront II expands upon the original game's single-player experience with mission-based objectives drawn from the first sixStar Wars films. It has a story-based campaign which revolves around the501st Legion (AKA "Vader's Fist") and its evolution from a legion ofclone troopers serving the Republic during the Clone Wars toImperial stormtroopers. Many maps fromStar Wars Battlefront make a second appearance, and the game adds new locales such asCoruscant andUtapau. The game also introduces "heroes" – playable characters based on iconic characters from theStar Wars films who are much more powerful than regular soldier (and were also present in the originalBattlefront, but only asNPCs that spawned randomly on the battlefield); the hero roster includesLuke Skywalker,Han Solo,Leia Organa,Chewbacca,Obi-Wan Kenobi,Yoda,Mace Windu,Ki-Adi Mundi andAayla Secura (as well asKit Fisto, available only on theXbox version of the game via theXbox Live patch), whereas the villain roster includesDarth Vader,Darth Sidious,Boba Fett,Count Dooku,General Grievous,Darth Maul,Jango Fett, and Anakin Skywalker (as well asAsajj Ventress, also available only via the Xbox Live patch). There are more modes in this game, such as Conquest, Hunt (where players fight as natives on planets against other natives or certain troopers in an army, such asWampas vs. Rebels onHoth or Tusken Raiders vs.Jawas on Tatooine, to earn 50 points first),Capture the Flag (both with one and two flags), Assault (which, on Tatooine only, is also available as Heroes vs Villains, where one team plays as the heroes and the other one as the villains in a race to rack up points by defeating enemies) and space battles.
In February 2024, a collection ofStar Wars: Battlefront andStar Wars: Battlefront II was announced forNintendo Switch,Xbox One,Xbox Series X/S,PlayStation 4,PlayStation 5, and PC. It features online multiplayer, a Galactic Conquest mode, an expanded Hero Assault mode, as well as additional characters and maps. It released on March 14, 2024,[1][2] becoming the second game in the series to be available on aNintendo platform afterElite Squadron on the Nintendo DS nearly fifteen years prior.
On September 29, 2006,Computer and Video Games made an unconfirmed claim thatFree Radical Design was developing the third game in theStar Wars: Battlefront series, titledStar Wars: Battlefront III.[3][4] In June 2008,Kotaku allegedly received information from a former LucasArts employee thatStar Wars: Battlefront III was in the creation process.[5] On October 2,Activision Blizzard filed a classification with the AustralianOffice of Film and Literature Classification listingStar Wars: Battlefront III for the Nintendo DS with aPG rating for mild animated violence,[6] equivalent to theESRB's Everyone 10+ rating. However, that same month, Free Radical Design announced that they lost the rights to developStar Wars: Battlefront III; the game at that point had been in development for two years.[7] Several years later, Free Radical Design co-founder Steve Ellis saidBattlefront III was "pretty much done" in 2008, but that it was effectively canned when LucasArts could not commit to "spend big" on marketing it.[8] However,GameSpot quoted an unnamed LucasArts employee involved with the project who said Free Radical could not devote sufficient resources to the game and regularly missed deadlines.[9] A former Free Radical Design employee said some of the technology Free Radical developed for the game, specifically the contiguous game environment from planet surface into space, "is dying with us".[10]
During and after the game's development, screenshots, and gameplay footage became accessible to the public. In December 2008, Star Wars character renders bearing aBattlefront III watermark surfaced from a laid-off Free Radical employee.[11] The following month, gameplay footage was leaked from a November 2008 Free Radical in-house showing ofBattlefront III footage.[12] The footage was pulled fromIGN after LucasArts demanded its removal.[13] On April 1, 2012, a user on the game journalist website Betagames discovered Star Wars models and textures buried inResident Evil: Operation Raccoon City's archives;PC Gamer's Tom Senior speculated that these could have been fromBattlefront III.[14] Also in April 2012, Past to Present revealed pre-alpha footage of Free Radical Design'sBattlefront III.[15]YouTube videos showing the game's rough state received media attention from outlets such asJoystiq,[16]Kotaku,[17] andShacknews.[18]
In December 2024, 16 years after the game's cancelation, aWii build of the game was publicly released by the Free Radical Archive. The build in question was dated just a week before the game's ultimate cancelation.[19] Among the many notable features included in the build included a Jedi Fighter flying fromCoruscant to a space battle, which would have improved the immersion of space battles from the previous entries in the series.[20]
Star Wars: Battlefront Online was rumored to be the next installment in the series. On January 28, 2010,Kotaku reported that SOCOM developerSlant Six Games was working with LucasArts to develop an online-onlyBattlefront title due in 2011. The game was said to be released for theXbox 360 andPlayStation 3. It was also stated that this game may have been the source of theStar Wars: Battlefront 3 concept art renders.[21] However, the game has been canceled after the studio was unable to meet its 2010 release deadline.[22]
Star Wars: First Assault was to be a downloadable multiplayer shooter forXbox Live Arcade.[23]Digital Trends speculated thatStar Wars: First Assault might help LucasArts recover some of their previous investment inBattlefront III and other projects in the franchise.[24] Speaking to Kotaku an anonymous insider noted that the game was to be "step zero" towards a third Battlefront game.[23] When footage of the game was leaked ontoYouTube Tech siteTechnoBuffalo noted that the gameplay very closely resembled that of theCall of Duty franchise.[25] AlongsideFirst Assault, LucasArts was also working on a separate game titled "Version 2", which was, reportedly, a code name forBattlefront III.[26]
In 2018, concept art surfaced of a canceledBattlefront IV, rather than attempting to fit within the previous games and films' continuity, concept art showed the game was meant to focus on an alternate reality whereObi-Wan Kenobi andLuke Skywalker fell to the dark side, instead ofAnakin Skywalker.[27] Also featured is concept art of a non-cyborg Grievous and Darth Vader as emperor, as well as Jedi versions of Dooku, Asajj Ventress, and Maul.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is ahandheld game released in North America on October 9, 2007, and in Europe three days later. The game was released only for thePlayStation Portable.Renegade Squadron is also available in a bundle pack with the then-new whitePSP redesign featuringDarth Vader on the back.
Aside from new heroes and vehicles, such as theMillennium Falcon, a new feature is the ability to create a character, allowing the player to adjust the character's features such as weapon, appearance, and speed. However, the character will be vulnerable due to the lacking of certain aspects that will be replaced by others. For example, the character may be fast but weak or have good weapons but no stamina and speed. Before the game's release, LucasArts had stated that over one million different customizable options would be present. Another new feature allows players to enter asteroid bases on some space maps.
Commander Col Serra describes the forming ofRenegade Squadron in the beginning cutscene of campaign. Then the player starts a series of missions ranging in objectives while including cutscenes between each mission. The final mission includes theBattle of Endor, in which the objectives are similar to the footage ofReturn of the Jedi.
Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons[28] is amobile game developed byTHQ Wireless.[29] It was released on April 2, 2009.[30] The game features a persistent online community, and has three character classes. The gameplay is a first personrail shooter that leverages the phone's touch features.
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron was released on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation Portable and theNintendo DS.[31] This marks the thirdBattlefront game on the PlayStation Portable and the first on aNintendo console. The game was originally discovered through its ESRB rating on the official ESRB website which has since been taken down. It follows in the same vein as its predecessors with space, land and new air battles.Elite Squadron is most notable for featuring simultaneous space and ground battles in Instant Action, and is the only game in the series with this feature. Players usually play in a third person perspective, but in the PSP version, they can also switch to a strategy based mode where they may build troops and upgrade armies.[32]
At anElectronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conference on June 10, 2013,EA DICE (whose parent company, Electronic Arts, had recently acquired a multi-year license to produceStar Wars video games), unveiled a teaser trailer for a newStar Wars: Battlefront game, built on theFrostbite 3 engine.[33] The teaser showed a first-person view of the Battle ofHoth, including a crashing Snowspeeder and the foot of an AT-AT. DICE showed additional development footage at the 2014 E3 conference. The game's title was eventually announced asStar Wars Battlefront. In April 2015, EA announced a release date of November 17, 2015 at Star Wars Celebration.[citation needed] The game is a reboot of the series, focusing on capturing the look of the films. At launch, four planets were confirmed –Hoth,Tatooine,Endor, andSullust. Unlike its predecessors,Star Wars Battlefront does not feature the Clone Wars era found in the prequel films, nor does it feature content fromThe Force Awakens; as a result, the hero and villain roster is also limited, at launch including onlyLuke Skywalker,Han Solo,Leia Organa,Darth Vader,Emperor Palpatine, andBoba Fett. Freedownloadable content (DLC) for the game was released in December 2015, featuring the planet ofJakku with two new maps and a new multiplayer game mode. The game also features both first and third-person gameplay perspectives, similar to its predecessors. A gameplay trailer involving the Hoth battle debuted at E3 on June 15, 2015.[34] The game features a pseudo-campaign — a cooperative experience allowing the player to experience gameplay with one or two players and computer-controlled allies and opponents.
"Outer Rim" is the first DLC pack for the game and was released on March 22, 2016. It adds new heroesNien Nunb andGreedo to the game, four new maps set inJabba the Hutt's Palace (Palace Garage and Jabba's Palace) onTatooine and a factory area onSullust (Sorosuub Refinery and Sorosuub Pipelines), and a new mode called "Extraction". The DLC is available for free to all players who have purchased the game's Season Pass, otherwise costing $10. The second expansion pack is titled "Bespin" and allows players to fight in the setting of Cloud City, released in September 2016. The expansion added more maps along with an additional game mode titled sabotage and new heroesLando Calrissian andDengar. The third expansion pack, titled "Death Star", was released in September 2016 as well and added the long-awaited Death Star to the game, along with new heroesChewbacca andBossk.[35] The fourth and final DLC pack was released on December 6, 2016. It is based on characters and locations from the filmRogue One, and includesJyn Erso andOrson Krennic as new playable heroes, and a new game mode set both above and on the planetScarif.[36]
Blake Jorgensen of Electronic Arts mentioned a sequel in November 2016,[37] andStar Wars Battlefront II was announced in March 2017.[38] The game was released on November 17, 2017.[39] Since the restructuring of theStar Wars canon,Battlefront is the first game with a storyline that is considered canonical to the film series.
Star Wars Battlefront II features bothsingle-player andmultiplayer game modes, a customizablecharacter class system, and content based on allStar Wars movies up toStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (with content for the other movies, as well as television series being added later on via freeDLC). A Celebration Edition was released in December 2019. DICE announced that Scarif fromRogue One would be the last content update released for the game.
In 2019, Electronic Arts was in the process of developing a game code-namedViking, developed byEA Vancouver and designed as a spin-off of theBattlefront series withopen-world elements. The game was originally planned for release in fall 2020, coinciding with the next generation of video game consoles, but was canceled in late 2019.[40]
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad is a novel written byChristie Golden.[41] The novel was published on July 25, 2017, byDel Rey Books.[42] The story takes place immediately after the events ofStar Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977).[43]Inferno Squad is the second book in theStar Wars: Battlefront tie-in novel series, followingBattlefront: Twilight Company. The novel followsIden Versio, protagonist of theStar Wars Battlefront IIsingle-player campaign. The book focuses on Inferno Squad's creation and its early missions.
On January 25, 2016, Frontwire Studios began an attempt to produce an unofficialBattlefront installment calledGalaxy in Turmoil. The fan made game was in production usingUnreal Engine 4 and was based on the canceledStar Wars: Battlefront III byFree Radical Design.[44][45] Although early versions of the game contained assets fromFree Radical Design, they soon became "place holders" as the full game planned to be released using assets and music made from the ground up. On June 4, 2016,Galaxy in Turmoil gained a distribution deal throughValve and was planned to be released for free onSteam which generated a fair amount of attention.[46]
On June 22, 2016,Lucasfilm requested the production ofGalaxy in Turmoil be halted.[47] On July 31, 2016, Frontwire Studios announced the cancellation of the game was due to the "possibility ofGalaxy in Turmoil taking away attention fromElectronic Arts'sBattlefront franchise".[47] Proposals ofGalaxy in Turmoil falling under the paywall ofElectronic Arts, and ideas ofLucasfilm giving Frontwire Studios aStar Wars license were both rejected due to an agreement betweenElectronic Arts andLucasfilm.[47] Although Frontwire Studios may have fallen withinFair Use laws, legal conflict was avoided and the project was canceled. There is a playable alpha that contains assets fromFree Radical Design that was released to the public then removed early withinGalaxy in Turmoil's lifetime.Galaxy in Turmoil is now planned to be redeveloped as a brand newcyberpunk-themed[48] IP without anyStar Wars references, but still withBattlefront III-inspired mechanics including space-to-ground battles.[47]
In December 2019, Frontwire Studios released a free demo and launched a Kickstarter in order to secure $500k for the development of the full game.[49] On March 22, 2022, Frontwire Studios announced that it had cancelled development on the game, citing a lack of funds, as well as the team going their own separate ways.[50]
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