Since the licence was acquired by Disney, the Star Wars empire has spread to nearly every facet of the entertainment universe. It’s a big reason why this year’s Star Wars Convention has gone from gathering of passionate fans to major media event.
EA’s Star Wars games were out in force at this year’s convention as the renowned gaming publisher finally lifted the veil surrounding their top secret Star Wars projects and gave us a glimpse into the exciting future of the gaming side of this franchise.
First up was news regarding 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront. Though some thought EA may be abandoning this game considering that Star Wars Battlefront 2 is due out early next year, this year’s Star Wars Convention made it clear that is certainly not the case. Not only will Star Wars Battlefront receive an offline single-player/co-op mode dubbed Skirmish that fans have been clamouring for, but EA has now confirmed what the final two expansions for the game will be.
This first is called Death Star and, as the name suggests, it will center around that famous battle station. Not only will this expansion introduce two new hero characters (everybody’s favorite Wookiee Chewbacca and the bounty hunter Bossk) but developer EA Dice is promising that this expansion will finally emphasize large-scale space battles. Though the full extent of these space battles remains unknown, the one showed to convention attendees saw empire and rebel players squaring off in battle in the famous Death Star trench run. Death Star should be available this fall.
The second, and final, DLC expansion announced for Star Wars Battlefront is currently untitled, but will focus on the upcoming Rogue One film. Along with the tropical planet of Scarif, which will be featured heavily in Rogue One, this expansion will also add Rogue One characters Jyn and Krennic as playable heroes. Details are scarce on what else this expansion may add, but it’s believed that it will build upon on the game’s Walker Assault mode as AT-ATs are featured prominently in scenes on that planet. This expansion will release on December 16th along with the Rogue One film.
Finally, developer Visceral’s Amy Hennig shed a little light on the company’s top secret Star Wars project by hinting that the game will feature multiple protagonists and will, in many ways, resemble Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series in its presentation. This isn’t surprising given Hennig’s previous work on that series, nor was the announcement that this game will take place sometime around the beloved original trilogy. That project is set to release sometime in 2018.
