Battlefront Studio DICE Loses Star Wars License to Respawn Entertainment

BY BAYANI MIGUEL ACEBEDO

Bayani Miguel Acebedo

Writer and Storywriter

Bayani is a freelance pop-culture newswriter that's been covering the news cycle since 2017. He writes mostly about TV and movies, but he also covers the biggest game news and makes sure to keep you up-to-date on the hottest titles. Though he does specialize on topics like Star Wars and Comic Book films, he also keeps up to date on none superhero properties like the latest movies and most buzzed about tv shows. He also has a podcast called Feed the Geeks which you can check out on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. He also draws original webcomics from time to time.

PUBLISHED 2 YEARS AGO

It looks like DICE’s Star Wars days are over.

Battlefront Studio DICE Loses Star Wars License to Respawn Entertainment

Despite being able to pick up Star Wars Battlefront II after a botched release, DICE will no longer be working on another Battlefront title.

According to Venture Beat, EA is movie all of their Star Wars IP to Respawn and DICE will instead be focusing on the next Battlefield game. Over at Respawn, three Star Wars games have been announced: the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order; a first-person shooter from the team behind Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond; and a turn-based tactics game with studio Bit Reactor.

Last year it was actually reported by insider Tom Henderson that DICE had pitched a third Battlefront game, but it was shut down by EA over licensing cost:

Battlefront 3 was a pitched title from DICE, but ultimately, the title was shot down by EA due to licensing costs.

“It got turned down because it takes 20% more sales to make the same money”, said one past developer.
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) November 20, 2021

This will surely be a blow for some Battlefront fans, especially those who stuck with DICE while they were trying their best to salvage the game. Despite the stumble upon release, the studio was able to add enough DLC expansions and characters that were a massive improvement on 2015’s Battlefront.

Maybe EA will revisit the multiplayer option in the future, but as it stands, while Star Wars is still on the down-low thanks to the pandemic (and many other reasons), the IP may not be a good investment for massive Triple A games. Hopefully we get something around the next theatrically released movie.