A Group Of People Dressed As 'Star Wars' Characters
A group of people dressed as a Star Wars characters pose at the cartoon fair "Vienna Comix" in Vienna October 4, 2014. "Vienna Comix", one of Europe's largest cartoon fairs, takes place twice a year and is expected to attract thousands of fans from Austria and the neighbouring countries. Reuters/Leonhard Foeger

Despite similarities to its popular “Battlefield” games, DICE has never actually made a “Battlefront” game, and this year’s “Star Wars Battlefront” represents its first stab at the venerable franchise. Though the game is highly popular, gamers have had to wait patiently for any information regarding a home console follow-up to 2005’s “Star Wars: Battlefront II.” A new announcement indicates they won’t have to wait much longer.

The news comes via an update on the official EA Star Wars website, which states that the publisher will be at this year’s “Star Wars” Celebration to unveil “Battlefront.” As noted by Gamespot, EA has been quiet about “Battlefront” since its unveiling during its 2013 E3 press conference.

“We’re thrilled to share that ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ will be taking part in Star Wars Celebration next month in Anaheim, CA from April 16 to 19. We could not think of a better or more appropriate place to debut the game officially for the first time than the premier event that celebrates the ‘Star Wars’ universe and the legions of fans who have fallen in love with it. We’ll have more information in the coming weeks,” read the update.

A subsequent tweet by the official EA “Star Wars” Twitter account confirms that “Star Wars Battlefront” will be exclusive to PC, Xbox One and PS4. This makes the game the first Frostbite Engine-powered title to target current-gen consoles exclusively. All prior EA games using the technology such as “Battlefield 4,” “Dragon Age Inquisition” and the recently released “Battlefield Hardline” have also been released on Sony and Microsoft’s older hardware, requiring trade-offs during development.

“Star Wars Battlefront” serves as a reboot for the franchise, which began in 2004 under the helm of the now defunct Pandemic Studios. Pandemic merged with famed RPG developer BioWare in 2005 and in 2007. It was announced that EA would be acquiring the studios and its IPs for the sum of $860 million. Two years after purchasing both developers, EA announced that Pandemic would be closed down while BioWare would continue.

As reported by IGN, EA acquired the licence to produce games based on the “Star Wars” properties in 2013, shortly after the closure of LucasArts. “Star Wars Battlefront” was announced months later via a short teaser. A longer, more in-depth look at development was granted at E3 2015, when the company released an official trailer viewable on the EA Star Wars YouTube channel. The video promises developer DICE will create a game fans have always dreamt of playing. “Star Wars Battlefield” is slated for release during the holidays 2015, alongside “Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.”

(Credit: YouTube/EAStarWars)

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