Recently, Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA (Electronic Arts) revealed that Star Wars: Battlefront would be among the games to be shown by the company at E3. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the annual trade fair for computer and video games. E3 is the place for big announcements and reveals when it comes to video games. Star Wars: Battlefront was first announced at last year’s E3. The Battlefront series, especially the second Battlefront, was well received by both gamers and Star Wars fans alike, and since the last games release in 2005, a new game has been highly anticipated. At this time the new game is to be titled Star Wars: Battlefront, and it is said that the game will be more a re-launch than sequel to the previous two games.
Following the disbanding of the development side of LucasArts, the Lucasfilm game developer, by Disney, concern over the fate of the Battlefront series was high. Later it was revealed that Disney had made a contract with EA to be the primary developer for future Star Wars games. At E3, new information and gameplay will be unveiled, and hopefully a release date as well. As of right now the game appears to be scheduled for mid 2015, before the release of Episode VII. The game will be a test as to how Disney has handled its control over Star Wars. Whatever its critical response may be, the game will certainly influence hardcore Star Wars fan’s opinions of the Disney acquisition.
Disney recently made statements regarding the extended universe of Star Wars. From this point forward the only properties that will be considered canon are the original trilogy, the prequels, the Clone Wars television show and movie, as well as the upcoming series Star Wars Rebels. From this we can see that the two previous Battlefront games are not considered part of the primary vital Star Wars history. So another big question is whether or not the new Battlefront game will be intertwined with the canon universe. Should it not be, would fans of Star Wars feel less of a compulsion to want to play the game when they know it won’t effect what they see on the big screen later that year? Should it be, will it keep its secrets close to the chest or be more upfront?
As for what we can expect from the game itself, much is still unknown. Promotional photos and the teaser feature Hoth, the ice planet most well known from The Empire Strikes back. Hoth has been used in many Star Wars games, because the Hoth battle from Episode 5 lends it itself the most to a video game adaptation.
Gamers have shown recently that they appreciate variety in terms of how they play a game. For example the WiiU system utilizes a separate game controller for many of its games, one player can be playing in a completely different way than another player, yet they are still working together (or against each other) in the grand scheme of the game. I can speculate on a Hoth battle where one player is in a snow speeder, another in an AT-AT, and a third playing as a trooper on the ground.
So beyond the vast speculation that has been made all across the Internet, we are still left quite in the dark as to what we can expect. For Star Wars fans E3 cannot come fast enough.