TheStar Warslicense is iconic and, frankly, enormous. The movies have always, and continue, to succeed at the box office, toy and merchandise sales have always been incredibly high, and the video games have always performed fairly well, regardless of what genre the game is or who it was developed by. In May 2013, EA was given the exclusive rights to theStar Warsvideo game license. In the last eight years, EA has released just four AAA games under the brand, each being met with their own unique criticisms.
Starting in 2015 withStar Wars Battlefront, players began to realize that EA may not have been the best fit for the license, withBattlefrontseeming a bit light on content and paid DLC being released soon after. The criticism only continued with the sequel, which implemented a loot box system that heavily encouraged pay-to-win practices. However, that doesn’t mean these games were all bad, and with recent announcements that new studios are using theStar Warslicense, it seems as though EA’s future with the franchise is unclear, and that might be a bit of a shame.
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Finding The Diamonds In The Rough
At launch, the firstBattlefrontwas a bit rough. There were only a handful of maps, a few weapons, and a tiny selection of playable heroes, and in using theBattlefrontname, the game was obviously going to attract a lot of comparison between this new title and itsearly 2000s predecessors. This led to a lot of the playerbase being disappointed, feeling that the title was a mere cash-grab, using the brand recognition and giving fans a shallow experience in return.
Yet, there were some aspects of the game that had potential. For long-timeStar Warsfans, it was undeniably cool to see a range of iconic locales inDICE’s beautiful Frostbite engine, and the larger scale of the maps, the authentic audio design, and a visual style that perfectly replicated the original movies all helped to make the game feel wonderfully atmospheric. While the game may have felt a bit disingenuous from a consumerist perspective, the atmosphere and general gameplay was pretty good, and showed a lot of potential.
That potential would be embraced a little more with EA’s 2017 sequel.Star Wars Battlefront 2had even more predatory business practices, but its gameplay and atmosphere were an impressive improvement on the first game. More heroes, maps, and factions were added to the game, this time stretching across all of the eras ofStar Warshistory, as opposed to just the original trilogy. A class-based system was also added, and hero/vehicle tokens were removed and replaced with points that gave every player an opportunity to use some iconic series vehicles and heroes during the course of the match.
Battlefront 2’s tighter gameplay may have had something to do with the collaborative effort behind the scenes, with three separate development studios working on the game, includingDICE, Criterion Games, and Motive Studios, the last of which would go on to makeStar Wars: Squadrons.Squadronsreleased in 2020, and while it was met with a decent amount of critical acclaim, the general playing public didn’t flock to the game.
By all accounts,Star Wars: Squadronsis a pretty good flight-sim/dogfighter, especially in VR. The controls are responsive and relatively intuitive (after a little practice), the game is visually impressive, and the sound design, voice work, and scaling of the ships makes it a suitably atmosphericStar Warsgame. However,Squadronshad already lost the battle before it could even hyperspace into it. Fans were pretty burnt out on EA’s previousStar Warsgames, and withSquadronsalready being part of a relatively niche gaming genre, the game didn’t stand a chance.
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Just A Few Parsecs Away From Greatness
With Quantic Dream’sStar Wars: Eclipsebeing announced at the Game Awards, and the Zynga-publishedmobile gameStar Wars: Hunterscoming in 2022, the future is looking a little different for theStar Warsfranchise in games. While EA has stated that it isn’t done with the franchise just yet, saying that they will continue their collaboration with Lucasfilm for “years to come,” EA’s involvment in the series' future is a little vague.
While some are definitely rejoicing at the idea of EA losing exclusivity,Battlefront 2andStar Wars: Squadronsaren’t without their fans, and losing exclusivity over the franchise might mean that sequels never get made, which would be pretty disappointing as these titles were on the verge of greatness. Through all of its post-launch free updates,Battlefront 2started to become a truly greatStar Warsgame. An impressive range of new maps, modes, heroes and classes were added, and with every new update, the game became more and more substantial, more worthy of that price of admission, and more worthwhile to fans of the series.
Similar updates were also given toSquadronswhich, while not as lacking in content as theBattlefrontgames, certainly didn’t feel like a complete AAA experience. These updates added more ships, some quality-of-life improvements, some cosmetics based on upcoming and recently releasedStar Warsproperties likeThe Mandalorian, and some next-gen performance upgrades.
In their current state,Battlefront 2andSquadronsare considered pretty good games, and very goodStar Warsgames, at least for those who still play them. Their continual free updates have shown just what a AAAStar Warsgame can be given enough time, effort, and money. The real irony is that if EA had this content planned for launch from the get-go, had been more transparent about their intentions and the content within the game, then these games could have had a chance at being some of thebestStar Warsgames ever made.
The low sales ofSquadrons, the abysmal critical reception ofBattlefront 2, and EA losing exclusivity overStar Wars, all seem to suggest thatsequels to these games will likely never happen.Battlefront 3could have been a genuinely excellent AAAStar Warsexperience, bringing all of the previous games' content together and combining it with new additions to make the game feel complete and satisfying, andStar Wars: Squadrons 2could have used the prequel and sequel trilogies to flesh out a new thrilling campaign and provide more ship variety.
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