‘Star Wars: Battlefront 3’ Footage Unveiled, Release Date News Remains Elusive

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) announced Monday at E3 that it plans to release "Star Wars: Battlefront 3," but cannot offer any more information on the game until the spring of 2015. The publisher also released a video offering a closer look at the development of the shooter, set “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”

The long-awaited follow-up to 2005’s “Star Wars: Battlefront 2” has had a troubled path to becoming a reality, but EA hopes to prove to gamers that its Dice Studios is taking time to develop “the Star Wars game that, as fans, we’ve all dreamt of playing.” The video is going viral on YouTube and, as of this writing, is showing the notorious 301+ view count.

“Star Wars: Battlefront” offers a first- and third-person view of the “Universe that Lucas built,” promising a shooter that takes players from the moon of Endor to the ice planet Hoth. EA and Dice showed off conceptual prototypes, and said their game artists traveled to filming locations from the original film trilogy for inspiration.

The companies did not clarify whether the footage showed real “Star Wars: Battlefront” gameplay or merely in-game cinematics. Instead, the footage carried an “early in-engine footage” banner to warn that “Star Wars: Battlefront 3” is nowhere near finished.

The title was once rumored to be held, to release alongside “Star Wars: Episode 7.” The newest entry to the film franchise, to be directed by J.J. Abrams, had its release pushed from summer of 2015 to December, and it now appears that “Star Wars: Battlefront 3” will not be released until 2016.

EA took the stage at E3, the annual electronics conference, to say that it would not announce any new information on “Star Wars: Battlefront 3” until next spring. The International Business Times’ Abigail Elise is in attendance, so follow her on Twitter to find out the latest E3 and gaming news.