The History of Star Wars Battlefront.

DICE


Imagine landing in a Star Destroyer, blowing it up from the inside and taking an escape pod to the ground as the star destroyer crashes onto the planet. With release of Gameplay or a trailer from DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront at the EA’s E3 press conference (3pm EST, 12pm PST) approaching today, we might very well see this today! I’ve gathered some of the history of one of the most popular Star Wars games in history…

This latest instalment of Battlefront has had some very bad luck as it has already been cancelled twice on home consoles and was released as Star Wars Battlefront II in 2005 almost 10 years ago.
The trouble first began when Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was in development at Free Radical Design, but it was cancelled by LucasArts executives who found the project too costly, according to the developer’s co-founder, David Doak. The Game was in a playable state when it was cancelled so we have videos of what that game was. 



Although we will never get to play this game, LucasArts took the ideas, story mode, and maps from this game and gave it to the developer Rebellion who ported it and made Star Wars Battlefront : Elite Squadron which was released on the PSP in 2009. I recognize all of the maps and the story mode cut scenes from the YouTube video as the same models, story and maps as Elite Squadron’s. 

Luckily DICE has stated they have access to all the data from the Lucasfilm era. So they most likely have a copy of Free Radicals 
Battlefront III, and will base some of the ideas for the new game, off of what the game was going to be if it had not been cancelled. Hopefully they will include the Space to Ground feature as that is one of the most exciting things about the Battlefront III videos. 

Fast forward to a little bit before Disney bought Star Wars. It had been almost 7 years since Battlefront II and the fanbase was really voicing their desire for a new Battlefront. It was one of the most requested Star Wars game sequels. So Lucasarts started development on a first person shooter game called Star Wars: First Assault.


if First Assault performed well, it would have validated the development of Star Wars: Battlefront 3. LucasArts would have then created the game from scratch, ditching previous work by Free Radical.

Lucasarts started development on First Assault but then secretly started a project named “Version Two” which was discovered to be Battlefront III made based off of the early version of Star Wars : First Assault.


When Disney bought Lucasfilm they cancelled all projects and sold the rights to EA, and EA assigned 3 studious they own to make 3 star wars games. DICE picked up the Battlefront IP, while Visceral and BioWare started working on two other unannounced Star Wars games.
With DICE’s Frostbite engine having fully destructible environments the possibilities are endless for how the map can evolve as combat rages around the planet and the skies. 

This Teaser for DICE’s Battlefront was released almost exactly a year ago at last years E3 press conference.



Expect to see new gameplay and/or new game announcements later today.

Watch it live here

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24 thoughts on “The History of Star Wars Battlefront.

  • June 9, 2014 at 3:20 pm
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    Imagine landing in a star destroyer and blowing it up from the inside and taking an escape pod to the ground as the star destroyer crashes onto the planet.

    • June 9, 2014 at 3:29 pm
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      That’s an ideal feature in my opinion. Couldn’t be more excited for this game!

    • June 9, 2014 at 3:32 pm
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      @dandino
      you should have started the article with that sentence. 🙂

    • June 9, 2014 at 3:36 pm
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      you can do that on star wars battlefront elite squadron, but the star destroyer does not fall on the planet it just blows up in space, i guess its ok for a handheld game, but it will be amazing if they can do it on the ps4 and xbox one

  • June 9, 2014 at 3:35 pm
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    Oh man thank god I thought this was the footage from the new Battlefront. When I saw this, I was like “man these graphics are terrible” haha.

    • June 9, 2014 at 3:37 pm
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      haha yea its pretty old, there is a good chance we will see legit gameplay in a few hours so seek patience young padawan and you shall be rewarded!

  • June 9, 2014 at 3:50 pm
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    Amazing, Dan.

    • June 9, 2014 at 4:35 pm
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      Interesting, so perhaps Issac’s character will have a close tie to Han Solo perhaps?

  • June 9, 2014 at 4:26 pm
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    “Lucasarts started development on First Assault but then secretly started a project named “Version Two” which was discovered to be Battlefront III made based off of the early version of the First Assault Game.”

    That’s some unfortunate capitalization at the end, there…

    • June 9, 2014 at 4:56 pm
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      First
      Assault
      Game

      HAHAHA

  • June 9, 2014 at 5:06 pm
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    Star Wars Battlefront is easily my most favorite game created. I use to play it for hours on my ps2. For you guys, my favorite website, to write a History of Star Wars Battlefront is amazing. Well done and i cannot wait to watch the announcement or whatever DICE has planned live

    • June 9, 2014 at 5:14 pm
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      It is my favorite game of all time too, i play it on my pc every week! there are hundreds of people still playing online, I could have written 10x more about it but i know alot of people hate really long articles, so i tried to condense it! reply to me on the article i will post of the actual gameplay coming in about 2 hours! id love to hear your thoughts on it!

  • June 9, 2014 at 5:20 pm
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    What’s this got to do with Episode 7? Sheesh.

    • June 9, 2014 at 5:32 pm
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      If you haven’t noticed we post all star wars news, star wars rebels, gaming, spinoffs. no one is forcing you to read an article you have no interest in

  • June 9, 2014 at 7:14 pm
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    WOW…only like 10 seconds of Battlefront 3 gameplay. The rest was nice, (behind the secens), but i’v expected for a longer gameplay 🙁

    • June 9, 2014 at 7:43 pm
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      yea i am a little disappointed, i think they will announce a star wars game soon, a new one.

  • June 9, 2014 at 9:52 pm
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    This is THE biggest game I’ve ever looked forward to in my life.
    EA likes to squawk about how they are bringing the Frostbite3 engine to iPad.
    IF that’s true, I hope & pray that they drag SWBF along with it ….

  • June 10, 2014 at 12:50 am
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    same, This is the biggest game I’ve ever looked forward to in my life too!

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