A new build of the canceled Star Wars Battlefront 3 for the Nintendo Wii has been uncovered by the Free Radical Archive, giving us a glimpse into the sequel that never was. One of the most-anticipated Star Wars games ever, though it was rumored to have been close to completion, Free Radical’s Battlefront 3 was canceled in 2008. While we’ve had several looks at what could have been over the years, this latest release is said to be from the final week of development, suggesting it’s the most complete version we’ll ever see.
The Star Wars Battlefront series made a return courtesy of DICE and EA in 2015, and while I certainly enjoyed the newer take on the bombastic multiplayer games I will always have a fondness for the mid-2000s originals. The first Battlefront and its sequel, developed by Pandemic Studios, remain some of the best Star Wars games of all time, so naturally there was plenty of anticipation around a third installment. It was placed in the hands of Free Radical, best known for the beloved Timesplitters series.
Unfortunately, the project never saw the light of day, although we have seen many smaller teases of gameplay since its cancellation. Now, however, the Free Radical Archive – a community dedicated to the studio’s lost projects – has uncovered a new build of the game. “This build, made in the final week of development, is full of content that has not been seen before by fans,” it writes. You can see a look at it in action below.
The team plans to share its build, along with additional support for it, for free via its Discord. It notes, “As this game was canceled during development, there are still bugs and issues, which we hope can be resolved through future modding.” In a 2012 interview with NowGamer, studio co-founder Steve Ellis said the game was “99 percent finished” at the time of its cancellation.
I’m still hopeful that we’ll get a new Battlefront game in the future – despite a rocky launch that stumbled over its own microtransaction model, DICE’s 2017 Battlefront 2 remains a fantastic way to recreate some of the most iconic conflicts from a galaxy far, far away. For now, however, this remains a fascinating glimpse into an alternate world that never came to be.
What we do have, however, are plenty of the best space games to keep us busy, along with lots of exciting upcoming PC games as we look ahead into 2025.
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