The upcoming multiplayer shooter Star Wars Battlefront aims to capture the soul of Star Wars. The developers sense the skepticism and huge expectations of the fans.
One would not want to be in the shoes of the developers of the multiplayer shooter. This impression keeps resurfacing in recent months.
Everyone expects something different, but all want it to be great
Star Wars has a huge fan base, Electronic Arts has a mixed reputation, blockbuster games evoke skepticism anyway in 2015, and then doing a reboot of a game series that had cult status 10 years ago: The developers at DICE have it tough.
In an interview with the Guardian, they now talk about the situation and the difficult expectations of the fans: Some think it’s too much Battlefield, others think it’s too little. And the Star Wars fans don’t care; they want Star Wars, not Battlefield.
A lot of skepticism is directed towards the developers. They have had to accept that fans are dissatisfied with the game and the developers. Only when the fans play it will the skepticism ease. They will see what they are developing, see that DICE has remained true to their vision, and the version of Star Wars Battlefront that was previously harshly criticized pleases the players – as happened at E3, says the General Manager of DICE to the Guardian.
Capturing the essence of Star Wars
The single-player campaign that so many wished for is not available. Such campaigns are met with skepticism at DICE. They last 6-10 hours, and then the players go through once and never return. In the missions, the single-player content they plan for Star Wars Battlefront, they want to place great value on replayability. Overall, they focus on long-term enjoyment.
They focus on the movies Episode 4-6 and do not go back further to Episodes 1-3 to avoid a time-and-logic mishmash, they say. And yes, they have planned some things for DLCs after the release, but they have packed the coolest ideas and moments into the base game.
Above all else, says Bach, is capturing the soul of Star Wars, the essence. Many have failed at creating a Star Wars game because they tried to replicate the effect of the franchise. DICE, on the other hand, tries to understand the core of the fascination and create a game from that perspective.
At DICE, they don’t want to say, “Trust us, we know what we’re doing,” but… well, in a way, they do say it. They know how much they are under scrutiny, how high the expectations of the fans are, but they will take all the experience of the last years and create a Star Wars game that captures the soul of the beloved franchise.
As said: One would not want to be in the shoes of the developers.
