You could be forgiven for thinking we’re back in the mid-2000s, because fans are once again demanding aStar Wars Battlefront 3. The series seems to have taken a page out of Valve’s book and is incapable of reaching a third entry, but interest in the 2017Star Wars Battlefront 2has surged, and many think the attention justifies a third installment finally coming to fruition.
As reported byGame Rant, aBattlefront 3petition is taking off, now reaching more than 3,500 signatures onChange.org.Star Wars Day on May 4 and the recent culmination ofAndor’s second season seem to have renewed interestin the aging first-person shooter series. Over on Reddit,r/StarWarsBattlefrontis awash this week with posts and comments hoping forBattlefront 3(and posts making fun of those posts). There are even reports thatBattlefront 2recently spiked at more than 100,000 concurrent players across all platforms; the info is unverified from theBattlefrontUpdatesTwitter account, so take it with some skepticism.
Andor And More Are Causing Battlefront Fever
Players Are Flocking To The Galaxy Far, Far Away
Andor’s incredible second seasonhas renewed interest inStar Warsat large after the disappointment of the franchise’s other recent television ventures, butStar Wars Day also likely had a hand in bringing players back toBattlefront 2. Amid the franchise’s annual celebration,Star Wars' Galactic Battle season began with a wealth ofStar Warscrossover content.SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice chargeover the use of an AI-generated Darth Vader voice chatbot, which has proven controversial in other ways, but the collaboration is clearly a major event for bothStar WarsandFortnite.
The above claim that 100,000 players concurrently logged intoBattlefront 2is dubious, butSteamDBdoes show a sharp increase in activity for the game, starting right on May 4.Battlefront 2got off to an incredibly rocky start, resulting in themost downvoted Reddit post ever from EA, but the FPS had quite the redemption arc in the years that followed. It now enjoys Very Positive reviews onSteam, andthe renewed interest has caused players to once again wish for a sequel.
Our Take: If Battlefront 3 Isn’t Already In Development, Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
DICE Is Busy
Despite the renewed interest, it’s been nearly eight years since DICE’sBattlefront 2came out, andEA already canceled aBattlefront 3in 2021, reportedly citing theStar Warslicensing costs. With that reasoning,it feels unlikely that EA has changed course, especially consideringEA’s Mandalorian-ledStar WarsFPS was canceledjust last year too.
There’s also the resources of DICE to consider, which is currently developing the nextBattlefieldgame. It’s not uncommon for studios to work on multiple projects, but the resurrection ofBattlefieldis taking the combined effort of the four so-called Battlefield Studios: DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive. Granted, Motive is also working on anIron Mangame, so DICE simultaneously developingBattlefield 3isn’t out of the question, but it’s still very unlikely given the series hasn’t seen any support for the last five years.
