Lately, there has been some speculation in regards to whether or not DICE’s much-hyped upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront – a title already sweating under the burden of the expectations of the community – will in any significant way be tied in to Episode VII, the upcoming movie of the Star Wars franchise, just as hotly expected, and probably even more pressured by outlandish fan expectations, and officials linked to the project have done a poor job at bringing any sort of clarity to the debate, to say the least.
DICE’s Patrick Soderlund had the following to say about the release date of the game “Obviously there will be things in there that are somewhat tied to the new movie. I wouldn’t say that we have a particular tie to the movie. Now, obviously we would prefer to be close to the movie, but I wouldn’t say that we’re directly tied to it.”
Ooookay…so, he essentially said that there was no tie-in, but some things were tied in. Nice one. He also said that they were keen on releasing the game close to the release date of the movie, but no, that was not because there was some sort of solid canon-link between the two…they’re probably just looking to milk the marketing hype…or they’re just doing it for no reason at all…
Now then, given the fact that the game (like Episode VII) had originally been scheduled for release for mid-2015, and that the movie has now been pushed back to December (apparently dragging the game with it), simply linking the two up for no reason makes no sense whatsoever. If the reason for keeping the release dates married this way is pure marketing, then that’s just lame, and the community is going to punish the product for it. Keeping the hungry fans waiting till December and then not producing a single relevant (and exciting) link to the newest Star Wars lore developments will be nothing short of criminal…
What’s most likely at this point from a logical perspective is that while the story of the game – admittedly focused on celebrating the history of the Star Wars universe – won’t share any relevant threads with that of the movie, there will be some subtle connections. Depending on how these subtle connections are implemented, this may yet turn out to be great news for those already saving up for Star Wars: Battlefront.