įree Radical composer Graeme Norgate spoke later of "stalling tactics" used by LucasArts, as the publisher refused to validate milestone after milestone, and was six months late to pay Free Radical. In May, the release of Haze, which got delayed by one year and was receiving poor reviews (with a Metacritic score of 55 ) was alarming for LucasArts. From there, publisher-developer relationship only deteriorated. At the time, Free Radical was concerned about not being able to reach its deadlines, while still making good progress. In 2008, things turned for the worse as LucasArts saw major changes in its management, first with the departure of Jim Ward in February, and later with the arrival of his successor in April, Darrell Rodriguez, whose new strategy saw a large portion of the staff (including nearly all managers ) being fired. " And then we went from talking to people who were passionate about making games to talking to psychopaths who insisted on having an unpleasant lawyer in the room." ―David Doak Among difficulties, the technological transition to a new generation of video game consoles, the growing need for a bigger work force (it reached around 200 employees in 2008 ), and changes in design (decided with LucasArts), hindered the development.
It was pushed to April 2009, with LucasArts consenting to pay for seven months of work. By January 2008, Ellis told LucasArts that Free Radical wouldn't be able to meet the originally planned released date for Battlefront III. One of Free Radical's co-directors, Steve Ellis, would later describe this a "vote of confidence in us".
In December 2007, LucasArts and Free Radical signed a new contract for a sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront IV, requiring Free Radical to further increase its staff. While Battlefront III would not be officially announced, or even acknowledged, by LucasArts, the deal between them and Free Radical was the subject of a press release at the beginning of August 2006. The game was to be much more ambitious than the previous Battlefront games, both in regard of its scope and supporting technologies. To do this, LucasArts reached out to Free Radical Design (who was already working on Haze), and the two companies made a deal during summer 2006, with development starting soon after. In 2006, LucasArts President Jim Ward wanted to publish a third Battlefront game as part of the company's ongoing strategy. " even though we thought we didn't want to do work for hire as a principle, the fact that the work for hire was Star Wars did make a difference " ―David Doak while contradicting statements from a former LucasArts employee, who wished to remain anonymous, along with a retort by Steve Ellis (who acknowledged that according to the level of details, he might know who that employee was), were published on GameSpot. Free Radical Design developers, in particular three of its co-founders: Steve Ellis, David Doak, and Graeme Norgate, would be featured in articles by and Eurogamer. The vast majority of what is known about Battlefront III can be tracked down to a few online articles published in 2012 by specialized outlets, based on statements from parties directly involved. You can claim your free copy of Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition by hitting up this link to the Epic Games Store.Building up on the legacy of the two previous games, Battlefront III would have made possible for players to seamlessly transition from ground battle to space battle, by taking off in or landing a spaceship. After that point, the next free title on the docket from the Epic Games Store will be Galactic Civilizations III.
Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition is free for you to claim from now until January 21st. But since the Epic Games Store is giving the game away for free, we're not going to quibble over that perceived slight. The Epic Games Store is offering up Star Wars Battlefront II: Celebration Edition, and there is a ton of extra content included in this version of the game, which Epic describes:īe the hero in the ultimate STAR WARS™ battle fantasy with STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ II: Celebration Edition! Get STAR WARS Battlefront II and the complete collection of customization content acquirable through in-game purchase from launch up to – and including – items inspired by STAR WARS™: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER™.Īny content and cosmetics that were released after December 20 th, 2019, however, are not included with the Celebration Edition.