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Everybody knows Star Wars, from the boomiest of boomers to the skibidiest of youngsters, so there’s no doubt there’s massive potential in bringing over the film and TV franchise to video games. At times, it might be easy for corporations to assume that Star Wars is too big to fail– even as a video game, but as Star Wars Battlefront 2 has proven, that’s simply not true.
If you can recall, what Electronic Arts did with Star Wars Battlefront 2 turned into an international loot box scandal so egregious that some countries banned loot boxes in video games. But the damage had already been done. While Battlefront 2 was more or less a well-crafted game, EA’s aggressive and shameless monetization practices have tarnished the game up until the point where they just snuffed out support for it.
A corporation abandoning something they’ve milked for years isn’t exactly new for the Star Wars franchise. Still, considering how many copies Battlefront 1 & 2 sold there was no shortage of Star Wars fans hoping for a serious, non-LEGO Star Wars game that encapsulated the franchise’s grandiosity.
Hence, Fans Made The Star Wars Game They Wanted
At this point, and after how EA handled Battlefront 2, you might even say that you can make a better Star Wars war game than what they did. Well, that’s exactly what a bunch of cool modders did with the abandoned Battlefront 2. A group of modders led by BattleDash created a mod called Kyber, which aimed to not only overhaul Battlefront 2 but also provide the game for free, with dedicated custom servers.
Since EA has cut off support for Battlefront 2, it no longer received content, which was unfortunate given how new Star Wars material kept popping up on Disney+. So part of what Kyber will add will be the Battlefront+ content component with dozens of new weapons, 90 new skins, 22 new characters, and even 30 new ground troopers.
There will also be new maps, new weather effects, gameplay modes, and quality-of-life features that were sorely missing from the original Battlefront 2. More importantly, though, you get recent fan favorites such as The Mandalorian (Din Djarin) and even Ahsoka Tano (complete with voice lines).
Modders have basically taken responsibility for keeping EA’s game up-to-date and improving it– all without being motivated by greed. The even better news is that Kyber is slated for release in early 2025 and is currently holding playtests.
No One is Tapping the Potential of Star Wars Games
Looking at the bigger picture, however, we can’t blame you for the more bittersweet reaction. The people responsible for making Star Wars games constantly mismanaged the franchise at every turn recently, such as what happened to Battlefront 2, Star Wars Outlaws, and to a certain degree, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor (which was review-bombed on PC).
Such a state for the Star Wars franchise has left the more passionate fans to pick up the pieces. In hindsight, a Star Wars game already has its avenues laid out for it, they could make a Fallout-type bounty-hunting Mandalorian game, a sequel to Knights of the Old Republic, a Podracer game, or even an Outer Rim survival sim and it could sell well as long as they’re managed right.
Sadly, current-gen Star Wars video games are too creatively bankrupt, which is ridiculous for such a huge IP. Their publishers seemingly aim more for profit rather than pushing what they can do with the franchise– which, by the way, has limitless potential for video games. Thus, we get flops like Outlaws and tragedies like Battlefront 2 instead of a Star Wars version of Star Citizen or No Man’s Sky.
At the moment, the Star Wars Jedi series appears to be the only Star Wars video game series worth pursuing and even then, EA will need to tread lightly given their current track record with single-player games.
Now that the EA exclusivity deal for Star Wars games has ended, we can only hope that more rebellious minds take over and repair the damage done by EA’s imperious approach, just like what the modders for Kyber are doing for Battlefront 2.
