The new Star Wars Battlefront 2 PS Plus Premium features

The Star Wars Battlefront II PlayStation Store page states the Classics version of the game will be the 2005 PSP release that is “enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters.” The page disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, but not before it was seen by Gematsu who verified the game will be made to run on both PS5 and PS4 consoles, unlike some of the earlier PS Plus Classics releases.

The store page did not offer a release date for the game but we think we’re safe to assume the game will be one of the new PS Plus Premium Classics due to be released on December 20. Sony is yet to announce any of the new PS Plus games for this month, although we do know there will be two games leaving the service: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Pillars of Eternity.

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“I still remember when we first got the Star Wars contract and the entire studio meeting was filled with goose bumps and tears of joy,” Brännvall wrote in a tweet. “Eight years later the journey is over and I’m moving on from EA DICE at the end of this month. Thank you all. May the Force be with you, always.”

Brännvall joined DICE in 2012 and worked as an associate level designer on Battlefield 4. In 2014, he moved on to Star Wars Battlefront, for which he was a lead level designer. He served as design director on Battlefront II, eventually becoming creative director at DICE in December 2019.

The Battlefront II community last heard from Brännvall in April this year, when he announced that the title’s development was complete, bringing an end to a tumultuous period for DICE that started with Battlefront II‘s infamous launch.

“Developing characters, worlds, and experiences set in this amazing galaxy that is Star Wars is an honor, and it has continued to be a remarkable, challenging, and ultimately rewarding journey for the entire team,” wrote Brännvall. “Knowing that we have a passionate community of millions of players and Star Wars fans – just like ourselves – along on the ride, is the greatest inspiration we could ever have.”

Brännvall didn’t say why he’s leaving DICE and where he’s off to next, but we wish him the best of luck in his endeavors.

[Source: Dennis Brännvall via VG247]

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Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII are your PS Plus games for June. Full details on this month’s lineup: https://t.co/pBXcZWFpnC pic.twitter.com/pj36qR99cB

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 28, 2020

The announcement made on the official PlayStation Blog details both game’s features and their inclusion in this month’s offerings. Both Star Wars Battlefront II and Call of Duty: WWII has received an enormous amount of content since their respective launches. In regards to Battlefront II, EA and DICE have made more than 25 free updates to the multiplayer game since its initial release, and this addition to PS Plus should give it a surge of new players.

The inclusion of both these games feels like a shot across the bows of anyone that’s complained about the quality of free, monthly games as of late. While catering to very different audiences of shooter and multiplayer fans, both Star Wars Battlefront 2 and WWII are substantial, triple-A offerings that make up for the cost of PS Plus based on their own price tags alone.

Both games drop at different times, with Star Wars Battlefront 2 coming on June 2 and Call of Duty: WWII already available. This is also your last chance to grab Cities: Skylines – PlayStation 4 Edition and Farming Simulator 2019 from last month’s offerings before they both vanish from the free game pool. Be sure and do that before vaulting off to a galaxy far, far away, or the shores of Normandy. Sorry anybody hoping for Spider-Man. Turns out that was indeed just a common PS Store glitch, not a harbinger of things to come.

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Apparently, PlayStation Gaming on YouTube was able to snag the video before the PlayStation Instagram account deleted the brief clip. In said clip, which lasts only six seconds, Call of Duty WWII appears for just a couple of seconds. Afterwards, Star Wars Battlefront II footage takes center stage for a very short period time. Seriously, it’s a ‘blink and you miss it’ kind of glimpse. The video then ends with an advert for this year’s Days of Play, which kicks off on June 3rd in North America.

See the supposed Instagram ad featured in the video below, courtesy of PlayStation Gaming’s YouTube channel:

As is always the case, this should be taken with a grain of salt until Sony itself offers a confirmation. With June only a handful of days away—and PS Plus games getting revealed the Wednesday preceding the first Tuesday of the month—such information should roll out relatively soon.

The reported Instagram ad seemed to have been promoting Days of Play just as much as June PS Plus offerings. Sony’s annual Days of Play promotion typically runs through June, featuring a host of deals on hardware, games, and accessories. This year is no different. The promotion will last from June 3rd-17th in North America. In regions such as Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, the sales are already under way. Across each region, PlayStation gamers can get deals on Days Gone, PS Plus memberships, Nioh 2, and a few hardware selections.

[Source: PlayStation Gaming on YouTube via VG247]

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“Star Wars Battlefront II is one of the greatest video game redemption stories of all time,” reads the petition. “From a disastrous launch to a complete success, the transformation of the game is inspiring to all Star Wars fans and gamers alike. Unfortunately, the game was cut short while still having so much potential for wonderful new content.”

We all know how petitions go, but it didn’t stop fans from spamming the developers with links to it on Twitter, prompting a response from DICE producer Ben Walke.

“You keep posting this to me but I’m not sure what you want me to do with this?” Walke responded to a fan. “The team has seen it, but it’s not our call. I really love that almost 30K of you have signed it [at the time of this tweet], but over 200k signed the alternative petition to this 2.5 years ago. Perspective.”

You’ll be forgiven for thinking this story came from an alternate universe where fans, not the publisher, want more paid content for a game that sparked an international debate on microtransactions.

As expected, Walke’s response was met with criticism from fans who argue that “new maps, heroes, skins, private matches, private servers, etc. are a must” for Star Wars Battlefront II.

What do our readers think?

[Source: Newsweek]

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The statement made by DICE and EA to IGN opened by saying “The team at DICE is working on the standalone Battlefield V update releasing this summer, and continuing their work on delivering Community Games. While the studio’s vision for Star Wars Battlefront II is now complete with this week’s The Battle on Scarif Update, the servers, in-game challenges, recurring events, and game support will continue as the game lives on with players and the community. We’re looking forward to hearing players’ stories for both games, for years to come.” The statement ended with information on the future of Battlefield, saying, “Longer term, the studio is focused on the future of Battlefield that we’ll be bringing to players in 2021.”

The initial word was that a new Battlefield game shouldn’t be expected until 2022, as DICE underwent a managerial change back in January. But things change and the state of the world is somewhat different than even three months ago, so perhaps DICE and EA are looking future-forward a bit faster than initially expected.

The Star Wars Battlefront II content update Battle on Scarif is out today and the final DLC pack for Battlefield V is expected sometime this coming summer.

[Source: IGN]

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The update is meant as a transition into a lack of updates and whatever the future may hold—aka, the slow wait until servers eventually go dark and/or a follow-up comes out, especially as this console generation starts to sunset.  The post continued, saying “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. This means that we’re moving away from delivering regular content updates. As the game lives on with the players and our community, we’re looking forward to hearing your stories for years to come.”

No word in the post on what the team’s future plans for the IP may hold, especially as the Star Wars brand transitions into a new, unexplored territory. The team left one final message for fans in the post. “We hope that Star Wars Battlefront II and the upcoming The Battle on Scarif Update will inspire you to keep playing and sharing. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished and continue to accomplish, together. May the Force Be with You.”

The Star Wars Battlefront II Battle on Scarif content update is out today for free.

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The report comes from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, who cites six anonymous sources familiar with the Battlefront spinoff project and its cancelation. Viking was intended to be a “smaller” project following Orca’s cancelation, launching fall 2020 to coincide with next-gen consoles. It was said to fill a financial hole in that window. It was going to feature open-world elements and spinoff of the Battlefront franchise in some way. EA planned to lean on Criterion to help out with Viking’s development.

Also Read: How The Mandalorian Used a Video Game Engine to Render Digital Locations in Real-Time

EA Vancouver was the studio doing initial prototyping and brainstorming, but the addition of Criterion—based in London—became a development issue. Criterion was supposed to be given the role of lead developer, and Kotaku’s sources say it became an issue of “too many cooks” as developers from EA Vancouver and Criterion tried development across different countries in completely different time zones. It was said that Criterion’s vision for the game put story and characters first.

In the first half of 2019, it was obvious to the studio that the game wouldn’t be finished in time to meet its fall 2020 window, and instead of extending the project, EA executives opted to scrap it altogether. Reportedly, EA’s fall 2020 “financial hole” is not being filled now that Viking is no longer taking that slot.

It was recently announced that Criterion got back behind the wheel of the Need for Speed series, and EA Vancouver is reportedly supporting BioWare and Respawn on Anthem 2.0 and Apex Legends respectively.

This cancelation was all behind the scenes and well before the release and success for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had come to light. EA reportedly still has two Star Wars games in development; another one with Respawn (expected to be a Jedi: Fallen Order sequel) and “a smaller, more unusual project at EA Motive.”

[Source: Kotaku]

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This doesn’t mean we’re celebrating the end of Star Wars Battlefront II though; plenty more content is on the way. The newest update is titled The Rise of Skywalker, after the upcoming Star Wars movie of the same name. Most of the update will drop on December 17th, which sees several new playable classes for the First Order and Resistance army added to the game. The First Order will be getting the Sith Trooper and Jet Trooper, while the Resistance will add the Spy and Gunner. There aren’t many details on how these four new units play yet, but apparently both the Spy and Gunner will be alien races. Additionally, Finn, Rey, and Kylo Ren will all get new Rise of the Skywalker-themed skins.

The second part of the update drops on December 20th, likely to avoid movie spoilers. A new planet will be added to the game, with players able to play matches on the currently unnamed jungle-themed world featured in the film’s trailers. At that time, all of the sequel trilogy maps will also be added to the game’s co-op mode.

Beyond that, there’s even more planned for Battlefront II. Once that update is done, the developers are planning to continue to focus on the sequel trilogy for a little longer. Promised some time in January, two more heroes will be joining the game: astromech droid BB-8 and its evil counterpart BB-9E. There are no details on how these droids will actually join combat, considering they’re rather small and seemingly unarmed, but expect additional details within the coming weeks. There are also plans to bring sequel trilogy content to the popular Captial Supremacy game mode, with players boarding Resistance or First Order ships.

It probably isn’t a surprise that there’s a big update planned in conjunction with the movie. More content was added for both Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo‘s launch. In the time between movies, DICE has mostly been focusing on the prequel trilogy, adding more heroes and locations featured in those films.

Now that we got BB-8 out of the way, can we talk about adding Baby Yoda?

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Some users on ResetEra are indicating that they got the discount without going through Battlefront II, and actually without even realizing that they owned Battlefront II at all, but if it’s not showing up for you, you’ll need to update the game (depending on when you last played it) and make your purchase through there. The applied discount says “EA Access discount,” so it appears that the deal is being extended from EA Access subscribers to those who have purchased Battlefront II as well, even if EA isn’t widely advertising that fact.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order releases very soon (or might already be out, depending on when you are reading this), and our own review will be coming very shortly. The single-player Star Wars game from Respawn has been receiving a lot of buzz as a potential return to form for both Star Wars games and EA as a publisher, embracing engaging stories and worlds as opposed to multiplayer and ongoing monetization. Early previews have been positive so far, and with reviews to come soon (or again, perhaps already out, depending on if you’re someone from the future) we’ll soon know if the single-player story focused gambit will pay off both critically and commercially.

Either way, if you own Battlefront II and plan on getting Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, you might as well take advantage of this deal and save a few bucks.

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