Don’t get too alarmed. EA’s 2020 fiscal year begins April 2019 and runs through March 2020. Since EA hasn’t officially announced its plans for the 2020 fiscal year, though, there’s always the chance that this could change.
For now, it would seem that Respawn’s project will arrive before the next Battlefront and EA’s other Star Wars project helmed by EA Vancouver.
This is a shift in EA’s original timeline. The next Star Wars game release was supposed to be a linear, story-focused adventure game from Visceral Games led by Uncharted series writer Amy Hennig. EA shuttered Visceral in October and shifted development to EA Vancouver with help from EA Worldwide Studios. The shakeup applied to the game too, with all signs pointing to an open-world experience. As such, the currently untitled project was pushed back.
In the earnings call, EA noted that Star Wars Battlefront II underperformed. While not explicitly stated, it seems that may have contributed to Respawn’s Star Wars title replacing the next Battlefront game in the 2020 fiscal year. But even if the Battlefront series is on ice, EA appears to be committed to developing a third entry in the series’ reboot, most likely titled “Battlefront III,” somewhere down the line. It’s still possible that the next Battlefront could launch in EA’s 2019 fiscal year, but it doesn’t sound likely.
We know next to nothing about Respawn’s untitled Star Wars game, which has inadvertently found itself in position to be the next AAA Star Wars release. A short teaser from EA Play 2016 showed a motion capture session featuring lightsaber battles. So the game looks to emphasize melee combat and possibly centers on the Jedi. Respawn however did promise “slick, larger-than-life action and fun, groundbreaking mechanics.” While we have yet to see any in-game footage, Respawn has built a reputation for innovative gameplay throughout its exceptional work on the Titanfall series.
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