Bungie and Respawn in talks for Star Wars Battlefront 3 claim insiders

Bungie, Respawn, and DICE are all in contention for the next Star Wars Battlefront game according to insiders, but who would suit it best?

Between Zero Company and Galactic Racer, Star Wars games are having a moment right now, but the future pipeline is promising too. 

Star Wars Jedi 3 is rumoured for next year, with a Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic remake and a spiritual successor titled Fate Of The Old Republic planned for later. Not only that but Lucasfilm Games recently said it was courting pitches from both small and AAA studios, for future Star Wars games.

Based on the word of several insiders, it seems those discussions involve a successor to 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront 2. 

As shared on Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings, host Jeff Grubb shared an excerpt from a retrospective book about the history of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, which was funded by Kickstarter and has now been sent to backers.

In the magazine, there was a regular rumours column from ‘Quartermann’, which has popped up in these retrospective. According to the column, Lucasfilm Games is in conversations with various studios about another Battlefront sequel.

EA’s DICE is apparently one of these studios, which makes sense as they developed Star Wars Battlefront 2 – but no longer have sole use of the licence. The game was widely criticised for its loot box progression system at launch, which damaged its reputation. However, after it removed these irks, it shot up in popularity and even saw a spike in players last year. 

The other studio supposedly in contention is Destiny and Marathon developer Bungie, which would be an interesting swerve if they do land the gig. While DICE is perhaps better suited when it comes to delivering large scale fights, which the series is known for, Bungie is known for its top notch gunplay – which is one of the weakest elements of the modern Battlefront games. 

These aren’t the only developers supposedly in contention. After this initial rumour percolated online, the CEO of Wardogs developer Bulkhead Games, Joe Brammer, chimed in with his insight into the matter. 

‘DICE and from what I’ve heard Respawn are working on Battlefront 3,’ Brammer wrote on X. ‘Not sure what that means for Battlefield.’

It’s unusual for a game developer to weigh in on rumours outside their own studio, but this might suggest Bulkhead Games was approached about the project at some point. Given they’re a relatively small indie studio, though, they likely don’t have the capacity to work on two big games at once.

If anything, a collaboration between DICE and Respawn would make more sense, to inject some fresh blood while maintaining a similar sense of scale. However, considering many of the original developers behind Apex Legends have left Respawn, the shooter they’re most known for, it’s unclear if they could improve the gunplay in any way. 

Regardless, a new Star Wars Battlefront is clearly on the cards. Lucasfilm Games vice president, Douglas Reilly, even referred to the series recently when stating ‘huge AAA games’ are a ‘central part’ of the company’s strategy – so it’s clearly on their minds. 

While Star Wars Battlefront 3 might be a long way off based on these rumours, Star Wars celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2027 – so next year might be the perfect time to roll out a spree of game announcements. 

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