The Star Wars franchise is synonymous with canceled video game adaptations. But, while audiences are used to this type of news by now, hearing about certain canned projects continues to sting decades after they were canceled. Case in point, Star Wars Battlefront 3.
Star Wars Battlefront 3 developer, Michael Barclay, reopened old wounds over the weekend when he talked more about the canceled game.
Here’s what Barclay revealed as a response to a question for people in game development about projects that they regret losing, or to be more specific, the “one that got away”:
I feel like it’s been long enough now to come out and say Star Wars Battlefront III was gonnae be legit incredible and the fact it got cancelled 2 yards from the finish line is an absolute crime. Gamers don’t know what they were robbed of.
Barclay adds, “I’m at a festival and choosing chaos.”
Barclay’s claims are just the latest in a series of conflicting statements made by different people about Star Wars Battlefront III.
Back in 2012, Steve Ellis, the co-founder of Free Radical Design, claimed EA chose to cancel development on the third Star Wars Battlefront game even though it was “99 percent done”. But, an anonymous source, refuted this claim and said that “a generous estimate would be 75 percent of a mediocre game,” before detailing how Free Radical failed to meet milestones that eventually led to the cancellation.
Ultimately, we’ll never know the truth behind these reports. As for Barclay, he’s since taken his talents to other studios like Crytek and Naughty Dog with brief spells with Cloud Imperium Games as well as Cohort Studios Limited.
With that said, it is curious that the Star Wars Battlefront series has never gotten a third entry for the second time. After the cancelation of Star Wars Battlefront III in 2008, Electronic Arts and DICE went back to the series with a reboot in 2015. The game eventually got a sequel in 2018, which didn’t fare too well due to its aggressive microtransaction-centric design.
While EA eventually reversed public opinion on Star Wars Battlefront 2 after releasing a stream of steady but free content, the influx of new players couldn’t help it generate enough profit to cover the steep cost of making Star Wars Battlefront 3.
The good news is that Respawn Entertainment is working on a “stylish” FPS title set in the Star Wars universe.
Fingers crossed, the Apex Legends studio learned plenty from the undoing of the previous Star Wars FPS titles and create a game that can last for a long, long time.
Aside from Respawn Entertainment, other studios working on a Star Wars game include Saber Interactive, Quantic Dream, Bit Reactive, Ubisoft Massive, and Skydance New Media.
