Star Wars Battlefront Fan Game Turns into New IP

Alright, kids, I know it's Quakecon, but that doesn't mean the entire gaming world has rolled over and played dead, as tends to be the case during these big industry events: in fact, quite a lot has been happening elsewhere in the gaming world.

For example: if you didn't know, before EA got their grubby hands on the Star Wars: Battlefront series, the original developer, LucasArts, was working on a third entry in the franchise proper, although it was obviously shut down when LucasArts was closed and Star Wars was purchased by Disney. That said, a lot of the data and assets from that failed project were still floating around, and one mod team, Frontwire Games, decided to take all that information and data and finish what LucasArts started by creating a free, fan-developed version of the third Star Wars: Battlefront game.

As you can imagine, it was only a matter of time before LucasArts found out and decided to put their foot down: after all, Star Wars is just about the biggest IP in the world, if they just let random developers make their own games for the series without repercussions, it would be a legal field day. However, upon getting the Cease and Desist letter, Frontwire president Tony Romanelli decided not too. Rather, he took a more ballsy approach: asking nicely.
 

"On Wednesday June 22, 2016, we received a letter from Lucasfilm requesting that we halt production of Galaxy in Turmoil with any Star Wars related IP at once. Rather than laying down at the first sign of trouble, I requested a meeting with the Lucasfilm executives to discuss our project and to find some common ground to work with. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much negotiation to occur. But much to my surprise, executives at the top of Lucasfilm agreed to meet. A week later, that meeting took place...

...During our meeting, there was a fair share of both lighthearted and serious moments. LucasFilm informed me that although they would of been open to the idea of negotiating a license for Frontwire to work on the Star Wars IP, that they are not able to due to their contract with Electronic Arts (EA). I was told that Lucasfilm had already spoken with EA about Galaxy in Turmoil and that EA expressed no desire in letting our project continue. Their main concern was due to the possibility of Galaxy in Turmoil taking away attention from their Battlefront franchise. I tried to pitch the idea about putting Galaxy in Turmoil behind EA’s paywall but was told that EA had previously rejected that proposition as well. Due to their exclusive contract with EA, Lucasfilm was contractually obligated to deny our request for the use of the Star Wars IP for Galaxy in Turmoil based on EA’s decision. We tried to reach out to EA directly for more information, but we have so far gotten no response."

So! Already, this is taking a good turn. Sure, negotiations went badly, but the fact that LucasArts was willing to meet with them (following the trend established by Blizzard regarding the WoW vanilla server) speaks loads about their PR people and the fact that there really isn't any bad blood here. But while things may seem to be bad, there's actually good news: the project won't be shutting down.

I'll let Tony explain.
 

"Upon speaking with Lucasfilm, they informed us that they have no issue with a Battlefront-inspired game that is not using the Star Wars IP itself. Regardless of what some have said, all of our code, sounds and many other non-Star Wars assets have been created in-house, which means they are indeed owned by us. Going forward, Frontwire Studios will be pivoting away from Star Wars and embarking on a mission to create a new, original game in a never before seen universe."

He continued to say that while the game would have all the gameplay they promised (64-man battles, land-and-space combat, destructible capital ships), it would still be free for everyone, so you won't have to pay a dime to enjoy it. That, my friends, is what we call a happy ending for all parties involved. Frontwire Games gets to continue forward with their project, LucasArts isn't breaking their contract, and EA can continue to make bad Star Wars games.

So, let's look forward to what A Galaxy in Crisis becomes in the months and years to become, shall we?