Jeff Grubb put Battlefront III back on the board this morning. On Game Mess Mornings, he said Lucasfilm is looking for a development partner, with EA and DICE or Bungie among the names in play.
Issue 265 And Lucasfilm
Issue 265 sharpened the rumor into a specific choice set: one studio has not been selected, but two paths are being discussed. Quarterman said Lucasfilm has been aggressively looking for a development partner for a follow-up to the Battlefront series, and that “So far, no one fully stepped up but yours truly is hearing two major game studios are circling the project like a couple of snow speeders led by completely unsurprisingly EA and DICE who we can hope learn from their loot box lesson.”
Quarterman also wrote that “There is another: the Q man hears if the force is not trusted with DICE, it could land at none other than Halo, Destiny and Marathon Developer Bungie.” That makes the rumor more than a generic sequel tease; it sets up a narrow contest between two studios, with Lucasfilm weighing a partner rather than already backing a finished deal.
Battlefront 2 Momentum
Last year, Battlefront 2 was described as the best selling Star Wars game, and the rumor leans on that run of popularity to explain why Lucasfilm would be hunting for a follow-up. Quarterman added that “Others are also telling the Q that Disney has big plans for the Star Wars Battlefront series,” which is the clearest sign that the franchise still has commercial value inside the company’s strategy.
Lucasfilm Games Vice President Douglas Reilly has already used Battlefront as an example of games central to the company’s future strategy, so this is not coming out of nowhere. The line from strategy to production still runs through a partner decision, and that is where the business question sits today.
Bungie’s Last Lucasfilm Link
Last year, Bungie worked with Lucasfilm Games on a Star Wars-themed expansion to Destiny 2 titles Renegades, giving the studio a recent working relationship with the Star Wars side of the house. If Lucasfilm bypasses EA and DICE, that prior collaboration gives Bungie a cleaner route into Battlefront III than a studio with no recent Star Wars tie-in.
This morning’s discussion leaves the project in the same place Quarterman described: no studio has fully stepped up, but EA and DICE and Bungie are both circling. Which studio gets Battlefront III is still the open question, and the rumor says Lucasfilm is already deciding whether this next move belongs to the old guard or to Bungie.
