The wait for Star Wars Battlefront 3 might finally be ending — or at least beginning. Rumors about the long-dormant shooter sequel ramped up this week, with multiple studios reportedly in the running to develop it.
The chatter kicked off when Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb read out a snippet from Electronic Gaming Monthly’s revived Quarterman column, which claimed Disney has “big plans” for the Star Wars Battlefront series. According to EGM, Lucasfilm is actively looking for a development partner for Battlefront 3, with two studios “circling” the project: DICE and Bungie.
Star Wars Battlefront (Credits: IGN)
DICE Is the Obvious Choice — But Not So Fast
If Battlefront 3 gets the green light, DICE would be the natural pick. The Swedish studio built both modern Battlefront games and created Battlefield, so the large-scale shooter formula is in its blood. The open question is bandwidth — how a new Battlefront would fit alongside DICE’s ongoing work on the Battlefield series.
Bungie, on the other hand, would be a genuine shock. The Sony-owned studio is in the middle of trying to turn around its struggling extraction shooter Marathon, and only last month it promised more Destiny is coming, just months after ending support for Destiny 2. Whether Sony would even entertain handing its shooter studio to Lucasfilm — and whether Bungie could take on such a project — is far from certain.
The Respawn Plot Twist
Then came the plot twist. Joe Brammer, boss of Wardogs developer Bulkhead, threw a different name into the mix on X: “DICE and from what I’ve heard Respawn are working on Battlefront 3. Not sure what that means for Battlefield.”
Respawn would make plenty of sense. The Titanfall and Apex Legends studio also made the acclaimed Star Wars Jedi games, so it knows the galaxy — and the shooter genre — inside out.
What’s Actually Happening
The honest read: Battlefront 3 is almost certainly not in full production yet, since Lucasfilm is still hunting for partners. But it is entirely plausible that DICE and Respawn have already done pre-production work — fleshing out the game’s shape while studios are lined up to help build it.
For fans who have been waiting years for a sequel, that is the most encouraging sign in a long time. The Force may finally be waking up on this one.
Also Read: Star Wars Games Could Get More Interesting as Lucasfilm Looks Beyond the Big Studios
Source: IGN — read the full story there.