DICE is ‘moving away’ from Star Wars Battlefront II updates

Better luck next time, Ahsoka

DICE is putting the final touches on Star Wars Battlefront II‘s Battle on Scarif update, and when it goes live on April 29, 2020, it’ll seemingly be the last of its kind. In a blog post today, Battlefront II creative director Dennis Brännvall spoke about the next “phase” of the game now that their “vision” has been “realized”: ongoing server support and maintenance, and a stark shift away from content updates.

They’re pulling the bandage off. It’s been a wild, meandering, mostly-back-on-track ride.

“Looking beyond April, we’re transitioning to a phase where the servers, in-game challenges, recurring events such as Double XP and more, and game support will carry this broad and rich Star Wars gaming experience into the future,” Brännvall said. “This means that we’re moving away from delivering regular content updates. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished, and continue to accomplish, together.”

This final major update includes a Scarif map from Rogue One, Supremacy and Instant Action support for the Age of Rebellion, and several new character appearances for Rey (with her yellow lightsaber), Kylo (with his reforged mask), and Palpatine (with the emperor’s new clothes). DICE also has Darth Maul’s “Old Master” appearance up for grabs if you take out 5,000 foes with the fan-favorite character.

“Given the massive difference in military might between the Rebels and the Empire – and Death Star II and Scarif not lending themselves to capital ships narratively – the battles in Age of Rebellion Supremacy will be fought throughout the ground phase exclusively,” Brännvall noted.

“In return, we’re enabling the ability to pilot starfighters on a selection of the Age of Rebellion Supremacy locations. Scarif and Crait are both joining the Heroes and Villains game modes and Co-Op will see the addition of the MC85 Star Cruiser, First Order Star Destroyer, and Scarif.”

DICE recently announced that it’s planning one more big content update for Battlefield V – likely coming in June 2020 – before the cycle starts anew on the next Battlefield game, which should arrive in 2021. With the way Battlefront II eventually turned out, Battlefront III has to be on the horizon.

It’s been such an uphill battle since Star Wars Battlefront II launched in 2017 that I’m tired just thinking about what a sequel might look like and what it’ll need to pull off to maintain any sort of goodwill.

I think they have it in them – I have to believe they do – but it won’t be easy.