The launch of Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s was so controversial that it left a permanent foul taste in the mouths of many players and ultimately led to a diminishing player base compared to the games initial sales. However, with two years of consistent support and updates from DICE, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is now in the best state that its ever been in, allowing fans to finally live out their Star Wars fantasy across all three trilogies. With the game being free on PS Plus for the entire month of June, right now is the perfect time for new and lapsed players to jump in and give it another go.
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Star Wars BAttlefront 2: A Controversial and Rocky Launch
The lead up to Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s launch was full of excitement from Star Wars fans and the industry alike. Fans had been begging for a third game in the Battlefront series for years, however, when EA obtained the publishing right for Star Wars games and released the 2015 reboot. DICE wanted to prove that it had learnt from its mistakes with a sequel that included an original single-player campaign and the promise of a multiplayer that would span all three trilogies.
Unfortunately, dreams quickly fell apart before the game had even launched with the multiplayer Beta and EA Access revealing it was plagued by loot boxes, microtransactions, and an atrocious leveling system that forced players to grind for roughly 4o hours to unlock heroes like Darth Vader or buy them with real-world money. On top of that, while the multiplayer content was received reasonably well outside of its microtransaction controversies, its campaign was universally panned for its story, forced hero missions, and backtracking on the marketed story from the eyes of the Empire. At this time, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was one of the roughest launches in memory.
DICE Supports with Free Updates
After a controversial and rocky launch, DICE put its head down and got to work on a series of updates that would fix major issues such as progression and microtransactions, and add new content that would give players a reason to return. In December 2017, EA and DICE released Resurrection, three additional campaign missions that served as an epilogue to the main story, as well as new multiplayer content tied to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was followed by a revamped progression system in March 2018, a new Return of the Jedi themed Endor update in April, and new Solo: A Star Wars Story content in May and June.
On top of regular updates that fixed bugs, updated systems, and added new content like trooper appearances, the biggest updates were still yet to come. Starting in October 2018, DICE began a four-month-long series of updates related to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, adding heroes like General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Count Dooku, and Anakin Skywalker. In September 2019, PvE was finally added to Star Wars: Battlefront 2 with a new mode called Co-op Missions, and since then there’s been additional content for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, bonus content based on the original trilogy, and the return of Scarif from Rogue One.
Realizing the Full Vision for Battlefront 2
Over the course of 2+ years since the release of Star Wars: Battlefront 2, EA and DICE released a total of 25 free content updates, as well as major fixes for the games progression and microtransaction systems, the two biggest criticisms at launch. In DICE’s own words: “Since launch, we’ve brought new content in the form of free updates to the entire player base, delivering immersive Star Wars battles you can play solo, with friends, and against others across the entire Skywalker Saga. This vision will now be realized as we complete our return to the Age of Rebellion.”
Obviously, in a perfect world, this wouldn’t be the end as there are tons of additional locations, appearances, modes, and heroes like Ahsoka Tano that could be added to build out the world of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 even further. However, the team was able to get the game to where it initially envisioned it at launch and to a state where ongoing support and events can be handled by the servers, as EA and DICE move onto their next big game. Hopefully, that’s pre-production on a next-generation Star Wars Battlefront 3.
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Why Now is the Time to Return
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 always had incredibly fun gameplay, and with all of the post-launch updates, it’s now in the best state the game has ever been in with brand new heroes, game modes, PvE content, single-player content, and more. EA and DICE have put in the hard work to transform Battlefront 2 into something unrecognizable to its disastrous launch counterpart with more than enough content to keep players invested for the foreseeable future. Not to mention, there’s a new Celebration Edition which includes all previously released cosmetic content including hero appearances like Rey Skywalker or General Kenobi, and the base game is free on PS Plus for the rest of June.
Now that Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s journey has reached its conclusion, speculation has begun on a new Star Wars game expected to be announced very soon. Developer EA Motive, the team behind the Battlefront 2 campaign, recently joined Twitter and social platforms, announcing its brand new game Star Wars: Squadrons, thought to be a space combat game similar to X-Wing VS. TIE Fighter and Rogue Squadron. The first trailer will be out on Monday, June 15 with EA Play taking place next Thursday.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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