Pandemic Studios kickstarted the Battlefront franchise back in 2004 for LucasArts. At the time, critics and audiences alike praised the original Battlefront game. In particular, many loved how Battlefront featured iconic Star Wars locations and how well the multiplayer component worked. Despite criticism about the relatively lackluster single-player campaign, Pandemic Studios got the chance to work on a sequel that was released in 2005 and that addressed all the concerns about the first title, while also building upon all its strengths. Naturally, a sequel to Battlefront 2 was expected, which was actually in the works until 2008. Judging from the footage seen above, the series’ new developers, Free Radical Design, was quite far along in the game’s development. Several sources have stepped forward over the years to explain what happened, resulting in a “he said, she said” situation between Free Radical and LucasArts. The former claimed that LucasArt did not want to spend money marketing the game even though it was “pretty much done.” Meanwhile, other sources added that LucasArts did not like how Free Radical would constantly miss deadlines. At the end of the day, Battlefront got stuck in development hell and never saw the light of the day. Still, it is interesting to see Battlefront 3 look so good for a game at that time. Free Radical wasn’t lacking in any ambition, judging by what we’ve seen in the 15-minute video. From the planned ground to space transitions to an epic narrative-heavy campaign, Battlefront 3 would have probably outdone expectations. Unfortunately, we will never know for sure after LucasArts lost faith in the project. If it’s any consolation, there is a resurgence of interest in Star Wars games right now. After holding exclusive rights to the IP for most of the 2010s, Electronic Arts is no longer the only major player. Case in point, the award-winning studio, Quantic Dream is working on Star Wars: Eclipse, which will serve as their debut action-adventure title. Of course, EA isn’t out of the arena either. Despite officially bowing out of exclusivity, its subsidiary, Respawn Entertainment, is spearheading at least three new Star Wars games. With several Star Wars games to look forward to, the fans of the franchise from the galaxy far, far away, aren’t exactly missing out. Then again, we’re still hopeful that the studio out there will get a chance to realize the vision and scope of both EA and Free Radical’s canceled Star Wars: Battlefront 3 title.
