According to journalist Tom Henderson, DICE had pitched Battlefront 3 but ultimately the proposal was rejected by EA due to the costs of using the Star Wars license.
“It got turned down because it takes 20% more sales to make the same money”, one anonymous developer is quoted as stating.
EA is now said to be focusing its efforts on the next Battlefield game instead, which Henderson suggests could release as soon as 2023.
Several key developers behind the Battlefront series have recently left DICE, Henderson points out, including Battlefront II’s creative director Dennis Bränvall, core gameplay designer Christian Johannesé, and lead hero designer Guillaume Mroz.
Battlefront 2 launched in November 2017 and received widespread criticism due to its reliance on loot boxes and microtransactions. These were quickly removed and a generous post-release content roadmap was received favourably by fans.
Lucasfilm confirmed in January that its Star Wars exclusivity deal with EA was set to end by partnering with Ubisoft on a new open-world game, although EA responded by stating that its “long-standing collaboration with Lucasfilm Games… will continue for years to come”.
Adding some colour to those comments during EA’s third quarter earnings call in February, CEO Andrew Wilson said the company would continue to invest in Star Wars games new and old.
“If you look at our history with Star Wars, we’ve had a long and very profitable relationship, first with LucasArts or Lucasfilm, and then with Lucasfilm as part of Disney,” he said.
“As we’ve established these very strong parts of that franchise,” Wilson added, “you should expect that we will continue to invest in those as well as some new experiences across platforms for the future.”
Star Wars Squadrons developer Motive has said it’s working on a new Star Wars action game and EA suggested last year that it would create a Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel after Respawn‘s 2019 game surpassed expectations with over 10 million sales.
This week EA confirmed that the next expansion for its Star Wars MMO The Old Republic, Legacy of the Sith, will release in December.
An unannounced Star Wars game said to be in development at French studio Quantic Dream could be called ‘Eclipse’ and set during the High Republic era, it’s been claimed.
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Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/star-wars-battlefront-3-plans-were-reportedly-rejected-by-ea/
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