On Sunday, Star Wars Battlefront 2, a virtually eight-year-old recreation, hit a peak concurrent participant rely of greater than 35,000 gamers on Steam. That’s simply a part of the story of renewed curiosity in Digital Arts and DICE’s Star Wars shooter, which has grow to be a must-play for followers of George Lucas’ area saga — and a rallying cry for Battlefront followers who’re determined for a Star Wars Battlefront 3.
How did Star Wars Battlefront 2 grow to be a 2025 hit on Steam, some 5 years after its remaining replace? You possibly can thank an enormous yr for Star Wars, led by the recognition of Andor and the return of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith to film theaters for that movie’s twentieth anniversary, partially. Main Star Wars-themed occasions in Fortnite and cell hit Monopoly Go could have additionally given Battlefront 2 a elevate.
Renewed curiosity in Star Wars Battlefront 2 began to develop in early Could, proper round Star Wars Day (aka Could the Fourth), which landed proper in the midst of season 2 of Andor. Participant counts quintupled, in line with information from SteamCharts, as every day peak concurrents went from a few thousand gamers to five,000.
Curiosity grew as Revenge of the Sith returned to film theaters on Could 19, and as longtime Battlefront 2 gamers rallied supporters to the trigger. They needed to interrupt the sport’s earlier Steam concurrents file — 10,345 again in January 2021 — to hopefully seize the eye of writer EA. Participant counts crested because the makers of Kyber, a Battlefront 2 devoted server and neighborhood mod supervisor service, recruited Star Wars followers for a “resurgence” occasion on Could 24.
Curiosity begat curiosity, and as former Battlefront recreation builders started posting to social media to acknowledge the Battlefront 2 craze.
“As a former developer of SWBF2 it’s superb to see outdated and new gamers take a look at the sport,” wrote Manuel S. Llanes, design director on Battlefront 2 in a submit on Reddit. “Whereas us devs are a bit scattered throughout the galaxy I’m positive I can communicate for all of the rebels and say that it means quite a bit.”
This weekend, Star Wars Battlefront 2 reached an all-time peak 35,321 on Steam. And in line with analysis agency Circana, the sport has appeared within the prime 15 most-played PlayStation and Xbox video games, primarily based on participant engagement, over the previous month. A Demise Star-sized low cost from writer EA (and the sport’s availability on subscription service EA Play) most likely helped; Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Celebration Version is now simply $3.99 on Steam, till July 10.
What’s extra, Battlefront followers have a good friend in multi-year NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, who streamed Battlefront 2 on Twitch this weekend. “I like this recreation,” Irving stated. “I need them to make Battlefront 3 already, bro.”
Whether or not all of this curiosity will translate into a 3rd Star Wars Battlefront from EA stays to be seen, however it appears unlikely to occur any time quickly. EA and DICE are all-in on the subsequent Battlefield recreation, and reportedly specializing in a small handful of franchises: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. That’s along with the already in-development Iron Man recreation at Motive, Respawn’s third Star Wars Jedi recreation, and the EA Sports activities lineup.
However possibly there’s an opportunity in the long term. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has advanced, in any case, from a hated pay-to-win, microtransaction-infested pariah to a fondly remembered shooter. So something is feasible.
