When it was announced that developer DICE, famed for their Battlefield series, would be taking on a reboot to the Star Wars Battlefront series some were worried that it may just end up as a reskinned Battlefield title.
Comments and messageboards across the internet sang the song of copy paste as keyboard warriors declared the game would be a bust.
But DICE general manager Patrick Bach said that such a tactic would have made the company money in the short term, but hurt the brand in the long term.
“You could have done Battlefield with a Star Wars skin; that would be safe,” Bach said in the latest issue of OXM . “That would be the sane and sober thing to do if you just want to make money. That’s the money-grab; go for it. But that’s not very strategic in the long term.”
He added: “Think where you want to be in five years and you won’t want that reputation behind you because that would be a burden rather than a benefit. You want a fresh start so you can go in a new direction. That’s exactly what we’re doing. The first Star Wars movie was in the same place. When you look at it now, it was the safest bet ever–but that’s easy to say now. Back then, why would you want this space opera?”
Bach had stated in a previous interview that DICE wanted Battlefront to have a “heart and soul of its own.”
The Battlefront beta has been extended to the 13th of October.
Are you a fan of the beta? What would you have liked to see from the game? Let us know in the comments below.