Star Wars: Battlefront III is one of the more convoluted and tragic stories in gaming. The third entry in the beloved mass-scale Battlefront series based on the iconic film franchise started in development by Free Radical Design, a series of ex-Rareware employees mostly known for making the cult classic Timesplitters. When the game was canned, Free Radical went with it, eventually getting bought by Crytek and now lives under the name of Crytek UK. The game bounced around a series of studios, from Operation Raccoon City developer Slant Six to Lost Planet 3 developer Spark Unlimited. With the transfer of Lucasfilm (and thus LucasArts) to Disney, the Star Wars game state has been in a bit of a kerfuffle, with reports about the anticipated Star Wars 1313 being in some turmoil. However, Star Wars: First Assault could breath some life into the Battlefront franchise at least.
The game was originally listed last October for XBLA, but this is the first info we've heard on it. The game is an 8v8 first person shooter running on Unreal Engine 3, pitting the Rebel Alliance against the Empire on famous Star Wars locales. The game was presumed to be coming this spring to Xbox Live Arcade, but with the recent transfer to Disney, this is still up in the air.
The game would serve as a "predecessor" in Battlefront III, with Battlefront III taking nothing from the scraps left by its former devs. The new Battlefront would be based off the source code for First Assault. While First Assault doesn't have any vehicles, Jedi, or other Battlefront trimmings, they're all coded and ready to go if popularity in a Battlefront revival is high enough.
The source, presumably a former developer on the game or someone close in its development, said fans should speak up online and let Disney know that fans still want Star Wars games. "Fans should tell Disney/Lucas loud and clear they don't want shitty titles from random developers; they want games to be taken seriously, and they will only pay for quality," the source said. "I believe that if Disney/Lucas lets LucasArts die, it means the death of Star Wars as a storied game franchise is right behind it."
You can view some screenshots of the project at the source.
Source
The game was originally listed last October for XBLA, but this is the first info we've heard on it. The game is an 8v8 first person shooter running on Unreal Engine 3, pitting the Rebel Alliance against the Empire on famous Star Wars locales. The game was presumed to be coming this spring to Xbox Live Arcade, but with the recent transfer to Disney, this is still up in the air.
The game would serve as a "predecessor" in Battlefront III, with Battlefront III taking nothing from the scraps left by its former devs. The new Battlefront would be based off the source code for First Assault. While First Assault doesn't have any vehicles, Jedi, or other Battlefront trimmings, they're all coded and ready to go if popularity in a Battlefront revival is high enough.
The source, presumably a former developer on the game or someone close in its development, said fans should speak up online and let Disney know that fans still want Star Wars games. "Fans should tell Disney/Lucas loud and clear they don't want shitty titles from random developers; they want games to be taken seriously, and they will only pay for quality," the source said. "I believe that if Disney/Lucas lets LucasArts die, it means the death of Star Wars as a storied game franchise is right behind it."
You can view some screenshots of the project at the source.
Source
