Star Wars Battlefront sold well and looks beautiful, but more than a few fans were hoping that the game would offer more of a robust single-player experience. Though there were a few training missions that could be played solo and a handful of co-op survival missions, Star Wars Battlefront is largely a multiplayer-only game.
As it turns out, that wasn't always the plan, though it does seem like the choice was made fairly early in development. As stated by EA studio boss Patrick Soderlund during a recent investor broadcast (via IGN), the decision for the game to not have a campaign mode was simply business.
"The one thing that we got criticized for was the lack of a single-player campaign," Soderlund said. "It was a conscious decision we made due to time and being able to launch the game side-by-side with the movie that came out to get the strongest possible impact."
That's probably what many fans assumed all along. It makes sense, of course. Being able to capitalize on Star Wars fever likely helped the game exceed EA's sales goals, so it seems like the right choice was made from a business perspective. While a campaign mode might have resulted in better reviews, it would have taken the development team longer, thus the game being unable to release alongside The Force Awakens. Having a campaign mode wouldn't have necessarily translated into better sales, either. Soderlund does go on to say that the next game in the franchise will look to improve upon the first and take criticisms of the first game to heart.
"Star Wars Battlefront came out [but] we got criticized for the depth and breadth of it," he said. "So as we look at why that was, we have to go back and course-correct that for another version if we were ever to build one.
"I think the team created a really good game based on the premise that we had. I would say the game has done very well for us and reached a very different demographic than a traditional EA game. So from that perspective, it's a success. Are we happy with the 75 rating? No. Is that something we're going to cure going forward? Absolutely."
At least there is hope for the inevitable next entry in the franchise. If EA and DICE can learn and expand upon the solid groundwork they laid with their first Star Wars Battlefront, fans should have plenty to look forward to in the years to come.
