Star Wars Battlefront will be the first Star Wars game released since LucasArts' shutdown, and that alone is almost certain to make it a financial hit.
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Fortune has posted a story on the game's commercial outlook, and the signs are rosy for Disney and EA. Simply by virtue of being a Star Wars property--combined with the fact that no new title has been released since 2013--Star Wars Battlefront could generate as much as $600 million in revenue.
"It's Star Wars, and the brand has a much broader level of recognition than the other games, period," industry analyst Michael Pachter tells Fortune. "Grandma will buy Star Wars over the other two as a holiday gift, because she doesn't know what Halo is."
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It helps further that the Battlefront series itself is hugely popular with gamers. A third game has been the object of desire among fans for a long time, particularly after the closure of Pandemic Studios canned promising-looking Battlefront 3 plans. Pachter estimates the first games sold about eight million copies, and believes the upcoming Battlefront could reach 10 million in sales.
Fans are cautious about the new title, despite a promising visual display with the in-engine debut trailer (below). Features from previous Battlefront titles are not present in the upcoming game, such as space battles and both original trilogy and prequel factions and settings. There is also concern over the number of maps and potential exploitative DLC--the developers at DICE felt the need to take to Reddit to ensure fans they will be getting a product worth its price.
"We chose EA because they have talented developers like DICE and we had a shared vision for the future of Star Wars in games," Ada Duan, vice president of digital business and franchise management at Lucasfilm, tells Fortune. "This is not a normal licensing relationship. It's a deep partnership. We've worked with DICE in Stockholm for two years and they're doing something to inspire players to create their own epic Star Wars battle fantasies. The Star Wars experience won't be complete until you see the movie and play the game."
Head over to Fortune to read the full story, with extra background on LucasArts' shutdown and the potential financial impact. Star Wars Battlefront is set for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 17.
