With Star Wars Celebration closing in fast, Disney’s prized galaxy far, far away is beginning to flicker into life. On the gaming side of things, today heralds the not-so-surprising announcement that Star Wars Battlefront 2 is real, and that it’ll be in attendance at next month’s event in Orlando. Expect the action to get underway over the weekend of April 14th.
The Last Jedi will naturally take precedence when the lights go down at next month’s SWCO, but Electronic Arts has now nailed down plans for the “Galaxywide Premiere of Star Wars Battlefront 2.” It’ll kick off at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT on Saturday, April 15th, when we fully expect to clock eyes on the first gameplay footage from DICE’s licensed sequel.
Earlier reports have suggested that the all-new single-player campaign will be the prime focus of April’s showcase, with EA planning to hold fire on Battlefront 2‘s multiplayer component until the sophomore EA Play event in June. On paper, it makes a lot of sense; 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront left many players lamenting the lack of a full-fledged story mode, so we wouldn’t be too surprised if EA and DICE choose to lead with the long-requested feature at next month’s SWCO panel.
Per EA:
Commence primary ignition – the first trailer for Star Wars™ Battlefront™ II is imminent. On April 15 at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT at Star Wars Celebration, we’ll be presenting during the “The Galaxywide Premiere of Star Wars Battlefront II” panel. Not able to attend in person? You’ll still be able to watch online. Join the award-winning developers from DICE, Criterion and Motive as they offer a glimpse at the game and debut the first trailer.
Battlefront 2 is also bigger, bolder, and will purportedly feature characters pulled from the new generation of Star Wars movies, if the latest round of rumors is to be believed. That means players may be able to take control of Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren this time around, after last year’s expansion Rogue One: Scarif brought the likes of Jyn Erso and Orson Krennic into the equation.
After drafting in assistance from other EA developers – namely Criterion (Burnout) and Motive – DICE is almost ready to lift the curtain on Star Wars Battlefront 2. It’s due to launch holiday 2017, and you can readily expect full coverage of SWCO next month. Perhaps we’ll also get a glimpse of Visceral’s long-awaited licensed title, too? We can only hope.