Star Wars: Battlefront will not have space combat, nor will it launch with Prequel Trilogy era settings, vehicles, or characters.
“It’s not much about space,” Patrick Back, General Manager at DICE told IGN. “Most battles are planetary battles, so our focus right now is to make sure we only get that right. The core of Star Wars battles — the Endors, the Hoths, et cetera — you want to take that to perfection. You want to do it right.”
Bach continued, “Space is hard, right? Not from a [development] perspective, but from a logistical perspective. Is that fun? For us it doesn’t make sense to create a battle above you if you’re fighting other players who are not there to fight. Our focus is to do planetary battles.” Battlefront Producer Craig Mcleod added, “No space battles. It’s all about the epic planetary battles and getting that right. Fighting with X-Wings and TIE Fighters, we have that. It’s taken in the atmosphere. This is something we discussed with Lucasfilm and they were happy to be on board with that.”
DICE's Battlefront game is focused entirely on those kinds of battles — X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Rebel Alliance vs. Empire. To that end, Bach outright said “No,” when asked if Battlefront would release with Prequel era content. The team’s goal is to accomplish a sense of authenticity best representing the first three Star Wars films.
Mcleod also explained that Battlefront would not feature planets such as Mustafar and Naboo at launch, and added, "I can’t talk exactly about what the future holds for Battlefront, but I can say we’ll definitely be supporting Battlefront post-launch. We have a long history of add-on content.”
DICE promises to do right by its fans with add-on content. Mcleod concluded, "One of the biggest challenges you have when working on Star Wars is the breadth of it. How do you choose which areas to pick? We grew up with the Original Trilogy. We love it. It’s absolutely loved by our fans. In the new teaser, when Han Solo says, ‘We’re home,’ that’s the feeling we’re going for…. We’ll get that right."
Battlefront will see its first piece of add-on content shortly after release with the .
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Mitch Dyer is an Editor at IGN. He hosts , a podcast about MOBAs. Talk to Mitch about Dota 2, movies, books, and other stuff on and subscribe to .