Bungie and DICE Named in Star Wars Battlefront 3 Developer Rumor

Bungie, the Halo and Destiny studio, could be making Star Wars Battlefront 3, according to a rumor in Electronic Gaming Monthly's Quarterman column. The report says Lucasfilm is looking for a development partner for another Battlefront game, and the two studios it names are DICE and Bungie.

I don't know whether to get excited or start worrying about which planets are included with my purchase. There's a version of this that sounds incredible. There's also a version where somebody hires Battlefront and immediately starts designing another full time job. The difference comes down to what kind of game they think we're asking for.

The Quarterman rumor describes a search for a Battlefront developer, not a deal

DICE makes sense as a name in this report. Bungie probably wasn't on most people's bingo card. Jeff Grubb discussed the passage on Game Mess Mornings, which brought more attention to it.

There's one detail worth keeping in mind. This describes a search for a developer. It doesn't establish that Battlefront 3 has a signed deal. We don't have a team in production or a release date. Grubb also said he personally expects DICE to get it, but that's his prediction, and it's separate from the magazine's information. We don't have a game announcement, but there's still something interesting to discuss here.

Bungie's combat feel is why its name makes sense for Battlefront 3

The more I think about the playing part, the more I understand why Bungie's name comes up. Whatever arguments people have about Destiny, there's a reason its combat has kept people around. The weapons have weight. The movement feels responsive. Abilities fit into the rhythm of a fight. When Bungie gets that combination right, clearing out a room is satisfying before you've even checked what dropped.

Put that kind of attention into a Star Wars shooter and you have my interest immediately. Picture a blaster that feels incredible to fire, a thermal detonator landing exactly where you wanted it to, or a heavy trooper holding a doorway while the rest of the squad pushes through. Those little interactions matter because you're going to repeat them a thousand times over.

Battlefront needs huge battles, and that's my first question for Bungie

Here's the first problem. Being good at making shooters doesn't automatically mean being the right studio for a Star Wars Battlefront game. Battlefront has a particular fantasy. For the most part, you're a regular soldier in a huge Star Wars battle. You've got vehicles moving around, blaster fire coming in from every direction, something enormous overhead, and then Darth Vader walks through a door and your entire plan becomes running away.

The scale is part of the experience. So is going from being one person in a crowd to earning the chance to play somebody who can change the entire battle. I don't know if Bungie pitched a smaller, tightly controlled competitive shooter, maybe. But I don't know if that would deliver what people have been waiting for from Battlefront 3, which is epic, huge scenes. That would be my first question. "Show me the battles. Show me why this needs to have Battlefront on the box."

DICE has already shown it can make Star Wars feel enormous

This is where DICE has the advantage. It has already shown it understands how to make Star Wars feel enormous. Think about the sound, the environments, and the way a battlefield can look like somebody dropped you directly into one of the movies. There are moments in these games where I stop paying attention to whether I'm doing well because something ridiculous is happening in front of me. That usually leads to me dying, but at least it looks expensive and good.

That presentation is important. A Star Wars game can have every familiar character and face in the world and still feel off. DICE demonstrated it could capture the atmosphere, so I get why it's probably the obvious candidate. But a studio's name on a building doesn't tell us who would lead the project, what resources they'd have, or what they'd be allowed to build. I'd want those answers from DICE just as much as I would from Bungie.

The most encouraging part is that people still care about Battlefront 2

The most encouraging part of this report has nothing to do with either studio. It's the suggestion that Lucasfilm sees value in another Battlefront game because people care about Battlefront 2. That matters. When players keep returning to an old multiplayer game, there's a reason. Sometimes it's the mechanics. Sometimes it's their friends. Sometimes there simply isn't another game giving them that experience. Sometimes it's all of the above.

With Battlefront, the appeal was easy to see. People wanted to fight Star Wars battles. They wanted clones, droids, starfighters, heroes and ridiculous last second defenses. You don't need a 40 minute presentation explaining why that sounds fun. The audience has been demonstrating that pitch. It doesn't tell me whether a new game would be profitable or how much it would cost to make, and those are real, big kid questions. But it does make me wonder how many times fans have to point at the same franchise before somebody decides to investigate. Apparently, according to this rumor, somebody is finally doing that.

Progression is where I get nervous about a Bungie Battlefront

Here's where I get a little nervous about Bungie specifically. I'd want to know how progression works before I get attached to the trailer, and you know it's going to be a pretty trailer. I don't want every conversation about a multiplayer game to be homework: which edition I need, what activities get me into something, whether I'm behind because I took last month off, and whether my buddy can jump in without me explaining a whole spreadsheet.

Battlefront should be easy to understand at the front door. You pick your side, you pick your class, you get into the fight. Give dedicated players things to earn, of course, and give me reasons to come back. But let coming back be something I want to do because the matches are great, not because I have to grind or be there at a certain time to get a drop. "I don't need the Empire managing my attendance schedule."

Before anybody says I'm assuming Bungie would turn it into Destiny, I'm not. We haven't seen a pitch, and that's exactly why these are questions instead of accusations. Bungie could approach Battlefront with a completely different structure, and I'd be down to hear it.

Cooperation, regular soldiers and Galactic Conquest are what I want in Battlefront 3

There are parts of Bungie's experience I'd love to see applied here, especially cooperation. Imagine a Battlefront game where playing your role makes the whole squad feel better. You support a vehicle push. You hold a position while teammates complete an objective. You coordinate abilities without needing everybody in voice chat explaining their build. There's room for depth inside something immediately understandable.

Please keep the regular soldiers important. One of the easiest ways to lose me would be making everybody feel like a superhero from the opening moment. Being a clone trooper should already be fun. The hero character is the escalation, the cherry on top. If the basic infantry combat doesn't work, adding another famous face will not fix it.

And can Galactic Conquest at least get a serious conversation? I'm not saying one mode magically guarantees success. But a broader war, where individual battles contribute to something you can follow, gives people another reason to care. It's another layer, and it gives solo players and groups something substantial alongside the usual multiplayer rotation. There's so much you could do without abandoning the identity people like.

I'd take a Bungie Battlefront 3 seriously, but I wouldn't trust it on name alone

My biggest hope from this story is that whoever gets this job understands why people want another one before deciding how to reinvent what we already have. Improve the combat, build better systems, make the matches more dynamic. Surprise us with maps and situations we've never played. There's so much room to move forward while still delivering the Star Wars battle experience people came for.

Would I take a Bungie developed Battlefront 3 seriously? Absolutely. I'm curious enough that I want to see the pitch, and the studio's shooter experience makes the possibility interesting. Would I immediately trust it because the headline mentions Halo and Destiny? No. I'd want to see the people, the plan, the scale, and how the game treats players' time. DICE would need to show me those things too.

For now, it's a rumor about possible developers, and it could end without either studio making anything. But if Lucasfilm is looking, I hope the eventual decision starts with one question: who can deliver the Battlefront that people actually want to play? I don't think fans are asking for anything mysterious. Give us a great Star Wars game, plenty to do, a reason to get the squad back together, and don't make it pay to win. That's it.