Last year not only saw the release of the first major Star Wars film in a decade, but also the long awaited release of Star Wars Battlefront. While fans by the millions were ecstatic to see a new installment in the game series, it's production and release did not avoid being mired in controversy because of the limited amount of content in the game, especially concerning its sole focus on the Original Trilogy. EA, the developer behind the game, just recently announced a brand new slate of updates and expansions that will eventually add new characters and planets to Battlefront, while still keeping the focus on the original films. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, EA has confirmed that they currently have no plans to bring characters from other eras into the game, especially from the newly released film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Their reasoning behind this decision is simply that they cannot break Star Wars canon. In a recent earnings conference call, EA's finance chief Blake Jorgensen explained further:
“You can’t make a game in ’Star Wars’ that violates the canon of ‘Star Wars.’ Meaning, you can’t take something from the future and bring it back into the past unless it’s a reference.”
Even though I don't think Star Wars fans would mind playing as Rey or Finn on Tatooine and Hoth, their logic makes sense. While some video games in the past have played somewhat loosely with canon, it's good to know that EA is taking continuity seriously. Still, we can hope that they will consider featuring other other eras and characters in Battlefront or other Star Wars video games sometime in the near future. Jorgensen reassures that the games and films of the future will be more closely connected:
“We’re trying to stay tightly connected to the ‘Star Wars’ beat for future movies, and we will obviously in future Star Wars games be able to tap the new characters and vehicles and so forth,”
WSJ points to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is being released this December, as a possible Battlefront tie-in. Rogue One's story takes place directly before A New Hope, which would allow for a not so canon-breaking crossover.
Nevertheless, I am certainly look forward to a time when characters from all three trilogies and more will be playable in Star Wars Battlefront.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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