A cancelled Star Wars game from 2008 was much closer to being done than fans might expect, claims a developer who worked on it.
Star Wars Battlefront III was in development at Free Radical Design between 2006 and 2008, before being officially cancelled. The Battlefront games showcased first- and third-person-shooter gameplay in the Star Wars universe and the third in the series was believed to build on the franchise’s capabilities with seamless transitions from ground battle to space wars using spaceships.
However, it was sadly not meant to be, much to the sadness of fans at the time and since. Now, some 15 years later, one of the lead developers on the game, Michael Barclay, has tweeted some insights about the game’s development.
“I feel like it’s been long enough now to come out and say Star Wars Battlefront III was [going to] be legit incredible and the fact it got cancelled 2 yards from the finish line is an absolute crime,” he wrote. “Gamers don’t know what they were robbed of.”
I feel like it’s been long enough now to come out and say Star Wars Battlefront III was gonnae be legit incredible and the fact it got cancelled 2 yards from the finish line is an absolute crime. Gamers don’t know what they were robbed of. https://t.co/zZUu8JR3iV
— Michael Barclay (@MotleyGrue) April 16, 2023
From the sounds of it, players would have been in for a treat. Indeed Steve Ellis, another Battlefront employee, had also previously said that the game was almost finished, saying “we had a 99% finished game that just needed bug fixing for release.”
This is actually the second time that Battlefront failed to deliver on a third game, with the modern remake of the games also cancelling a third game, although not at quite the same last-hour stage.
Featured image: Naughty Dog via IGDB
