Star Wars Battlefront 3has been on the minds of many fans, but creating this follow-up is not as simple as many believe. EA can’t just decide to make another game, there is a lot more to consider and many reasons it might not seem worth it to the publisher. All this is to say that you’ll probably be disappointed if you were holding out hope for aBattlefront 3.
The release ofStar Wars Battlefront 2in 2017 washeavily affected by problems, mostly related to its unpopular microtransaction and progression systems. The game’s progression system was complicated, using multiple types of currency and loot crates that held items like Star Cards and Crafting Parts, which directly changed gameplay by giving stat improvements and new abilities.
One of the biggest complaints was that players had to spend a large amount of time or real money to unlock famous characters, such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. At first, it was calculated that unlocking just one hero could take about 40 hours of playtime, or players could use Crystals (bought with real money) to purchase loot crates, which had a random chance of containing the needed items or currency. This system basically pressured players to spend money on top of the game’s original price.
The player community reacted very negatively, with many expressing anger over paying full price for a game that seemed like a free-to-play title with pushy money-making strategies. This anger came to a head on Reddit. Thenow-notorious responsefrom EA’s representative about the microtransactions said, “The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.”
This statement was met with huge backlash, quickly becoming the most downvoted comment in Reddit history, reaching over 660,000 downvotes. The controversy grew even worse when people accused the loot box system of being a form of gambling, leading to investigations by government agencies in places like Belgium and Hawaii.
Due to widespread criticism and outside pressure, includingreportsof a phone call from Disney, EA made changes. Just before the game’s official release, EA announced that all microtransactions would be temporarily removed, saying they would redesign the progression system based on player feedback.
Months later, microtransactions were brought back, but they were restricted to cosmetic items only, with gameplay-changing items and hero unlocks tied only to in-game progress.
It’s Not So Easy Making a NewBattlefront
Making a newStar Wars Battlefrontgame afterthe poorly received launchcomes with major obstacles, affecting both developer morale and the ability to keep key team members. DICE, the studio that developed the most recentBattlefrontgames under EA, has lost a large number of employees as time has gone on including those that worked on theBattlefrontseries.
Unfortunately, key developers who worked on theBattlefrontseries at DICE have since left the studio, especially after plans for a third game were canceled. Losing important team members can make creating a potentialBattlefront 3much harder. Rebuilding everything from the ground up rather than rolling the old team into the next release can certainly take the wind out of a project’s sails. TheBattlefrontname itself may also carry a negative reputation and be seen as risky for publishers and developers because of the problems surrounding the last release.
The performance of other recentStar Warsgames, especially those made by studios outside of EA after their exclusive license ended, shows how hard it is to succeed with theStar Warsbrand in today’s gaming market.Star Wars Outlawsis a key example.The Metacritic scorereached 75 from reviewers, while player ratings are down to 5.4, showing the game has been panned by fans and critics alike.Outlawsdidn’t sell well for a StarWarstitle, andUbisoft’s stock price droppedsharply, hitting its lowest point since 2015.
Making a newBattlefrontgame comes with additional challenges given it depends on theStar WarsIP. That means tackling the technical and creative challenges of a big-budget shooter and making a game that pleases fans and the rights holders (Disney).
Games Like This Require a Lot of Background Deals
Creating a big triple-A video game, especially one based on a brand that’s a household name, means dealing with a complicated financial and legal situation. Making games at this level is always very expensive, with costs often reaching tens of millions of dollars and the most ambitious games sometimes going over a hundred million dollars.
These huge development budgets pay for long research and design periods, salaries for hundreds or even thousands of employees over multiple years, building and keeping up necessary technology, making the game work well on different platforms, paying fees to release the game on those platforms, and running massive advertising campaigns that can sometimes cost even more than making the game itself.
However, when the game uses a well-known intellectual property (IP) owned by another company, like theStar Warsuniverse owned by Disney, there is an extra and often very large financial cost added in the form of licensing fees.
Electronic Arts used to have an exclusive license to makeStar Warsgames for consoles and PCs, and as part of that deal, EA paid Disney a licensing fee. These licensing agreements don’t come cheap, especially for big IPs likeStar Wars, and often include the IP owner getting a share of the money made from the licensed products. Disney is set up to make a lot of money from these deals, possibly even more than the company that licenses the IP.
EA may have turned down a proposal from DICE for a thirdStar Wars Battlefrontgame partly because of these high licensing costs. After all, EA had already parted ways with FIFA and instead rebranded asEA Sports FC. According toTom Henderson, a well-known insider, a developer said that because of the licensing terms, a potentialBattlefront 3would have to sell 20% more copies than the previous game,Battlefront 2, just for EA to make the same amount of money.
Expect a Reboot, Not a Sequel
Even thoughthe series deserves a direct sequeltoBattlefront 2, the next game in the franchise looks likely be another reboot. This change is largely due to Disney no longer having an exclusive licensing deal with Electronic Arts forStar Warsgames. Since the exclusivity period has ended, Disney and Lucasfilm are now allowing different companies to work onStar Warsgames. EA is still working on someStar Warsgames under this new, non-exclusive model, but these are mostly described as story-driven or single-player experiences.
In the past, Disney preferred licensing its intellectual properties to other companies rather than making games themselves. EA’s reboot is a good example of this, and the company will likely look for a different studio to take the helm despitethe recent player resurgence.
A reboot gives developers more freedom to change old ideas, add or remove characters, and create new locations and stories. The main goal of a reboot is to bring a series back to life, attract new fans, and make more money, especially if the series feels outdated or doesn’t meet current gaming standards. EA’s own franchise was a reboot of the games that came before, which bizarrely also didn’t get a third installment despite being almost finished.
Given Disney’s licensing approach and EA’s reluctance to take the series, it might be easier and less risky for Disney to approve aBattlefrontreboot with a new developer instead of a direct sequel. A reboot would let a new studio start from scratch, using the coreStar Wars Battlefrontconcept but with the freedom to change gameplay, story, and progression systems. This could help avoid the high expectations and criticisms tied to the previous EABattlefrontgames, especially the controversial launch ofBattlefront 2.
Activision, the company behindCall of Duty, could be perfectly poised to pick up the reins on a newStar Wars-themed first person shooter. The studio has recently outdone EA in first-person shooters and could be where Disney is looking to outdo the former games in theBattlefrontseries.
Right now, there’s just too much baggage to pin your hopes on a direct sequel. Even taking into accountBattlefront 2’s success in 2025 as a game that’s finally been “fixed” it seems unlikely we’ll see anything yet (and EA were likely as surprised by the title’s resurgence as you were).
