The Fall & Rise of Star Wars: Battlefront II

It’s no secret that when EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 launched in 2017 it was met with an high amount of controversy – due to its monetization through its overabundance of loot boxes and pay to win elements. Even reaching the most downvoted comment in Reddit’s history as EA continued to defend the practice through their (now infamous) “pride and accomplishment” line. We are now nearing two years since its release and to the surprise of many, the game is still being actively supported by the developers. The majority of people are probably unaware of these positive changes due to the initial controversy, but it begs the question – Is the game good now? Let’s take a look.

Shortly after the initial launch DICE added some Last Jedi tie-in content which consisted of wrapping up the unfinished campaign and a new map from the movie. The updates in the forthcoming months were very minimal, being drip-fed to the community, with just a few cosmetics and minor changes being made. It wasn’t until March 2018 where the progression system was overhauled that real progress in the right direction was being made. The game was no longer pay to win, and you were rewarded for playing the game. But was it too little, too late though? The launch “hype” had long since ended, and the community only had a development roadmap to base their expectations off.

E3 2018 rolled around, where DICE announced several additions to the game which were received rather positively – including General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Count Dooku being playable within the game. As well as the much-requested Battle of Geonosis. Finally, the prequels were getting the attention they deserved as one of the most iconic battles of the prequel trilogy was being added to the game. Later that year they were implemented as promised, and that is when Star Wars fans (myself included) started to take interest in the game again. When the Geonosis update was announced the game went on sale at an incredibly discounted price in an attempt to reel new players in. Did it work? The simple answer is: Yes. 2018 showed the Battlefront community that DICE were listening, and (to the surprise of many) still supporting the game after the failed launch.

The updates did not stop in 2019, straight off the bat Anakin Skywalker was added to the game as a playable character, to the joy of many. Shortly after, a new game mode named “Capital Supremacy” was revealed, reminiscent of the classic Battlefront games, having players capture command posts across the map. Throughout the year more and more maps have been included in the new game mode, with balance patches to back them up along the way. DICE even revealed a new co-op game mode that saw players fighting off AI enemies as they defend strategic points on the map. All of these additions were received positively by the community. As 2019 comes to a close, it has been heavily hinted there will be Rise of Skywalker content on the way to tie-in to the new movie. How long the game will be supported afterwards has yet to be seen.

Many of the players (myself included) appreciate the efforts made by DICE to support the game, and it makes you wonder that if it weren’t for the controversy around the initial launch; would the game have been supported as much? The shocking amount of updates released almost make it seem like an apology, or to try and redeem the Battlefront brand. In my opinion, their strategy has paid off as it seems to have racked up a respectable amount of players over the past two years and shows little sign of stopping. Is it as good as the classic Pandemic Battlefront games? Nope. Do I wish that we had a game that had ground-to-space battles akin to the cancelled Battlefront 3? Yes. Do I think DICE are listening and may attempt that in the future? Only time will tell. I hope they build on what they’ve already made as well as take inspiration from the classic games if they do decide to do a third instalment to the rebooted franchise.