Lucasfilm may be looking to bring back one of the most popular Star Wars games of the last decade. According to a new rumor, the studio has been searching for a partner to make Star Wars Battlefront 3, and one game industry executive claims EA's DICE and Respawn Entertainment are already working on it. None of this has been confirmed by Lucasfilm or EA, so this is very much a rumor at this stage.
The latest claim comes from Joe Brammer, CEO of Bulkhead, the British studio behind the shooter Wardogs. He posted it on Monday:
Brammer's post includes a notable caveat. His information on Respawn comes "from what I've heard," so it is secondhand. He does not work at EA, and he did not offer any additional details about the game.
Lucasfilm's Search For A Partner
The rumor that kicked this off appeared in the revived Electronic Gaming Monthly. The magazine's new issue, #265, was released to Compendium Kickstarter backers earlier this month (October 9th), and it brought back the long-running Quartermann rumor column. Jeff Grubb then read the Battlefront section aloud on Giant Bomb's Game Mess Mornings on Monday.
According to the column, Lucasfilm is the one driving the search:
"The suits at Lucasfilm have been aggressively deploying probe droids for a development partner to take on the task of creating a follow-up. So far, no one has fully stepped up, but yours truly is hearing two major game studios are circling the project like a couple of snowspeeders, led by the completely unsurprising EA DICE, who we can hope learned from their loot box lesson."
If DICE does not get it, the column said the project "could land at none other than Halo, Destiny, and Marathon developer Bungie." Grubb was careful about how far to take it, saying "It doesn't sound like the game is in the works yet, but it does sound like there are conversations at the very least about who should take it on." It has also been noted that the column appears to have been written well before it was published, as some of its other rumors have already been confirmed.
EA's Long History With Star Wars
If the rumor is true, it would keep Battlefront in familiar hands. DICE developed both modern Battlefront games for EA, the 2015 reboot and 2017's Battlefront II. The sequel had a troubled launch due to its loot box controversy, but it recovered and still has an active community today.
Respawn has become one of Lucasfilm's most important gaming partners as well. It developed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the story-driven adventures following Cal Kestis. The studio was also developing a Star Wars first-person shooter until EA cancelled it during layoffs two years ago, and its work on Apex Legends and Titanfall gives it plenty of shooter experience.
Plenty Of Questions Remain
The two rumors tell slightly different stories. The EGM column suggests Lucasfilm is still shopping the project around, while Brammer believes it is already in development. Brammer also wondered what this would mean for Battlefield, given that DICE has been focused on Battlefield 6 and its seasons since the game launched last year.
Bungie is not out of the picture either. In follow-up posts, Brammer said he would like to see Battlefield and Battlefront share the same cycle, and he speculated about how Bungie might approach Battlefront if it landed the project.
Lucasfilm, EA, DICE, Respawn, and Bungie have not commented on any of the rumors, and no game has been announced. For now, fans hoping to return to the front lines of the galaxy far, far away will have to wait for something official.
Would you trust DICE and Respawn with Battlefront 3, or should Lucasfilm hand the series to someone new like Bungie?
Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.