The original Star Wars Battlefront title is now playable online, 16 years after its release. This isn’t a complex mod, either. Online play is here via an official update.
Releasing in 2004, Star Wars Battlefront was the quintessential third-person shooter at the time. The PC version utilized GameSpy for online play. That is until the matchmaking services shut down in 2012.
Since then, this classic was only playable via LAN or in single-player. Until today’s surprise update, which simply reads:
Online multiplayer on Steam has been added to the game. We also made the following changes to the game:
French, Italian, German, Spanish language support added
Additional audio support added
Addressed a number of menu and gameplay issues for a number of different screen sizes
This is interesting timing, considering DICE just announced the end of its support for the modern Star Wars Battlefront 2 . The once-controversial title received its final content update on April 29th.
While the classic Star Wars Battlefront 2 is arguably the best, there’s no denying the original’s impact. This game was a big success and is ranked as one of the best PlayStation 2 titles of all time .
Even if the original is no longer the contemporary title, bringing back online multiplayer is simply a nod to fans of the classics.
Meanwhile, DICE is dropping their once-controversial title to work on the next Battlefield, for some reason.
The latest Battlefield title never had much of a footing. Despite all of its expansions and a battle royale mode, the game fell flat under the likes of Apex Legends, Modern Warfare, and Fortnite.
It’s likely the next Battlefield will fare better, considering it will absolutely be a next-generation title. But will it be too little too late?
Players are already looking forward to the new Assassin’s Creed and Godfall. Will they make the time for yet another tired shooter?
Who knows. Maybe they’ll release another Star Wars Battlefront as a follow up on next-generation hardware as well.