Development of Battlefront III

: I’ve seen a couple of write-ups that are wrong including both Wikipedia and the Wookieepedia.
: — Rebellion Employee
==2006 - One Battlefront, Total Control==
Following the success of Pandemic's Battlefront II, LucasArts began looking for a developer to create a sequel for next-generation systems. At first, they were interested in Pandemic Studios continuing development but they declined after being offered only one year for development. Pandemic's vision for a third title would have featured a vertical battlefront as well as the ability to see your body and feet while looking downhttps://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/2/2f/Pandemicpart.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/799?cb=20220410153629. However, such features would require updates to the game engine, something the one year development period would not allow forAs per Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts, Battlefront II was developed in one year with development starting almost immediately after Battlefront went gold. While it was possible to continue development due to similar technology and fan feedback pointing to demand for certain features, this would be very little time to create an innovative title on next-generation hardware.. Thus, LucasArts would begin approaching multiple developers in 2006https://web.archive.org/web/20230420113334/https://twitter.com/CHSundberg/status/930739485419204609, one of them being Free Radical Design in MarchFRD_BF3_Concept_draft01.doc, dated 23 March 2006.
Free Radical pitched to LucasArts the 'the most complete and authentic Star Wars experience ever'. Battlefront III would combine the ground combat of Battlefront and the space combat of Battlefront II to create a multi-layered battlefield. Players would be able to play as Jedi, fly from ground to space, destroy a capital ship, then escape while watching its destruction – all in one session, where other players would also participate. It would have been a casual, fun experience, that would appeal to both casual and hardcore crowds. LucasArts, seeing that this game had massive potential, signed the game in JuneMilestone Definitions v3.5_REDLINE.doc. The directors celebrated this by buying a lightsaber for everyone in the companyhttps://web.archive.org/web/20130205042716/http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1337739/whatever_happened_to_timesplitters_4.html.
vertical_BF_Bespin_1.jpg|The vertical battlefield was pitched as the main feature of the game. Pictured here is Bespin's planned inverted vertical battlefield, which was later replaced with a traditional approach.
Battlefront III was the second of Free Radical's work-for-hire projects, after Haze. While the studio preferred owning its intellectual propertieshttps://web.archive.org/web/20160325222426/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/owning-ip-is-crucial-to-survival-says-free-radical-boss, working on a Star Wars project was special, as many of the employees were fans.
At the same time, however, the company would now work with the milestone approval process, something it did not do with past games. This meant that the publisher would be involved with the day-to-day running of things and the decisions that were made regarding the game’s development, putting creative liberties below the need for approval.
In August, the game was announced as a 'Secret LucasArts Project'https://web.archive.org/web/20070115215018/http://www.frd.co.uk:80/game6/pressRelease.php, a title it was meant to keep until E3 2007Milestone Definitions v0.3.doc.
: Within that [vertical battlefront], the seeds for disaster were sewn. I think that core design pillar of the game was slightly untenable because of the scale.
:- David Doak
==2007 - Going Multiplatform==
:We thought it was going to turn the industry on its head. Free Radical was meeting all of their milestones. Even Jim Ward would sit in those core team meetings and would say things like, ‘So this is shipping next month, right?’ And this was 2007. This is a joke because it was looking so good, especially compared to Fracture and Force Unleashed at the time, which were just troubled the whole way. And we would all laugh, thinking, ‘Wow. If it looks this good now for a game that’s shipping in 2008, there’s not going to be any problem.’
: - LucasArts employee
Development continued into 2007, with Nintendo Wii and PC versions being signed in FebruaryBFIII_Wii_Milestone_1.docand MayBFIII PC Milestone 2 LEC Review.doc is from June 2007, respectively. Following the philosophy of offering the best experience on every system, as done by Star Wars: The Force Unleashedhttps://youtu.be/qGgTrI34Dx4?t=1083, the Wii version would offer content suited for the console, such as the Challenge mode, a variety of fast paced mini-games that make full use of the unique controllers and Jedi Arena (1v1 lightsaber battles), which would take place in specially built environments meant to test the player’s lightsaber and Force skills. However, due to limitations, online battles could only have up to 25 human players as well as 40 AI players, compared to 50 human players/50 AI players planned for the main systems (Xbox 360/PC/PlayStation 3)BF3_Wii_DesignOverview_0.95_with_Comments.doc. On the other hand, the PC version would be identical to the next-generation versions, using Games for Windows – LIVE for various features, such as matchmaking and account managementPC Product Design & MS Schedule_MWK_v1.1.doc.
Battlefront III’s planned appearances at E3 2007, Leipzig Games Convention, and Tokyo Game ShowBF3_20070202.mpp were cancelled, as LucasArts thought that the game was not ready to be presented to the public. Marketing was instead focused on Star Wars: Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, a PSP-exclusive game being created by Rebellion Developments planned for release in Octoberhttp://web.archive.org/web/20110723193233/www.lucasarts.net/company/release/news20070510.html.
Battlefront III Unfinished E3 2007 Trailer (version 5)
Battlefront III Unfinished E3 2007 Trailer (version 6)
After the release of Renegade Squadron on October 2007, LucasArts would approach Rebellion again, this time for the development of Battlefront III's PS2 and PSP versionshttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/4/4c/FRDArchive_Rebellion_01.png/revision/latest?cb=20190315170030. This version was to combine the vertical battlefront concept with the customization features of Renegade Squadron, as well as offer optimized versions of Free Radical's maps for 16-player matches. Unlike The Force Unleashed, which offered exclusive content on the PSPhttp://web.archive.org/https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/star-wars-the-force-unleashed-review/1900-6197903/, the game would simply be a graphical downgrade of the PS2 version and would not include two-player split-screenhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230419200457/https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/79oym2/i_am_rich_may_a_programmer_in_the_games_industry/. Rebellion originally intended for their version of the game to take place from X1’s (dark-side clone twin of the protagonist, X2) perspective; however, this was cancelled early onhttps://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/a/a3/Rebref.png/revision/latest?cb=20230419200625. Out of this concept, the map Vjun was created, as one of the audio logs in Free Radical's versionb09_02_4_x1.wav in r70217 mentioned X1 learning the ways of the Sith in Bast Castle. 
Additionally, n-Space was hired for the creation of the Nintendo DS version, which would be a top-down shooter featuring a unique class system. Initially, LucasArts was interested in cross-stats between systems; however, this idea did not move past early discussions with Free Radicalhttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/b/b4/Lapsp.png/revision/latest?cb=20190123153045https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/b/b0/Lads.png/revision/latest?cb=20190123212843. Rebellion and n-Space were to receive reference from LucasArts, in order to remain accurate with the game. However, for unknown reasons, LucasArts would only send specific reference material to each studio, which would lead to the design of the old and next-gen versions diverging from each otherhttp://web.archive.org/web/20231118143418/https://www.neogaf.com/threads/do-you-remember-the-rumour-of-slant-six-working-on-battlefront-3-it-was-true.468709/page-2#post-36583026.
At the same timeBF4 Milestone Schedule v9.1.doc, LucasArts signed an agreement with Free Radical about beginning development on Battlefront IV, with discussions taking place about the creation of yearly installments as wellhttps://web.archive.org/web/20220909153919/https://www.neogaf.com/threads/star-wars-battlefront-iii-free-radical-design-version.469016/page-2. 
==2008 - Beginning of the End==
:FRD going bust was one of the worst things to happen to me in my life. I'd built that company from 5 people to 250 people. To have it taken away like it was... well, the less I have to think about Star Wars and LucasArts, the more sanity I retain.
:— Graeme Norgate
:For a long time we talked of LucasArts as the best relationship we'd ever had with a publisher. Then in 2008 that disappeared, they were all either fired or left. Then there was a new guy called Darrell Rodriguez, who had been brought in to do a job and it was more to do with cost control than making any games. And the games that we were making for them were costly.
:— Steve Ellis
In January 2008, Free Radical approached LucasArts regarding the postponing of the release date. After some discussion, the release date was moved from October 2008 to April 2009http://web.archive.org/web/20230208063832/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-lucasarts-employee-on-why-star-wars-battlefront-iii-failed/1100-6400936/. A few weeks later, LucasArts’ current president, Jim Ward, would resignhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230419200806/https://www.gamedeveloper.com/pc/lucasarts-president-ward-steps-down. It is believed that this occurred due to disagreements on whether delays would increase sales, as The Force Unleashed and the Indiana Jones project had also received delayshttps://web.archive.org/web/20190908153742/http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/03/gamesetinsight_disgruntled_of.phphttp://web.archive.org/web/20210503150720/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-force-wont-be-unleashed-until-spring-08/1100-6167058/http://web.archive.org/web/20230129012807/https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/04/fall-of-the-empire-how-inner-turmoil-brought-down-a-legendary-studio.aspx.
April was to be a critical month for the game's development. At the start of the month, LucasArts appointed Darrell Rodriguezhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230419201223/https://www.engadget.com/2008-04-02-lucasarts-names-darrell-rodriguez-as-new-president.html as its new president, a person who was looking to cut as much cost as possible. Free Radical employees were working paid overtimehttps://web.archive.org/web/20071222143758/http://www.developmag.com/news/28546/Free-Radical-paying-its-staff-overtime on both Battlefront and Haze, as the first had, among other things, the fixing of 800 bugs as deliverables for that month’s milestoneBF3_Roadmap_20080707_Internal.xls and the latter was to release soon, after multiple delays. LucasArts speculated that resources from Battlefront were being allocated to Haze and, as such, the relationship between publisher and developer was beginning to deteriorate. 
Haze released in late May to poor commercial and critical reception600.000 copies soldhttps://web.archive.org/web/20100825190529/http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/haze. Free Radical had promised to LucasArts that the game would have acquired 85+ review scores as a result of its delays. With that promise broken, the publisher had now started to lose faith in the project. 
In June, Darrell Rodriguez would begin his restructuring of the company, starting with mass layoffshttps://web.archive.org/web/20220523090201/https://kotaku.com/lucasarts-confirms-layoffs-says-the-dev-is-still-healt-5013987. Additionally, budget expenditure was cut in half and the publisher started becoming more strict during the milestone process. For example, art for maps such as Tatooine, Coruscant, and Bespin that were at ‘Phase 4’ (release quality) in AprilRelease_Notes_MS24.doc became 'Phase 3' in JuneRelease_Notes_MS26.doc. Despite being unable to pass a milestone, Free Radical would continue development, as they had no debts and could operate via the profits it had acquired from Haze. During this time, content would start to get cut from the game; the objective-based game mode AssaultInstant Action Checklist.ods was removed (possibly because of AI issues; Haze had no bot support for its objective gamemode), 50-player matches were downscaled to 32-player ones with 16 AI (due to performance issues) and Galactic Conquest was removed (due to functionality issues)QA tester (Enzyme Testing Labs): Galactic conquest was removed, both single and mutiplayer versions. It was in the game for 90% of the development, but never worked. (From http://reveddit.com/r/Games/comments/1dr8gn/in_light_of_more_battlefront_3_footage_leaked_i/ : "I've heard "99%" being thrown around but I would not go that far. One of the major modes of the game, Galactic Conquest was not exactly working and loads of the mini games were either in infancy or in placeholder states. The campaign was definitely on the way to completion though and quick match was pretty much totally playable.").Battlefront III would not be showcased at E3 2008, as LucasArts was unimpressed with the state of the gamehttps://www.neogaf.com/threads/do-you-remember-the-rumour-of-slant-six-working-on-battlefront-3-it-was-true.468709/page-2 (also refer to GameSpot article) and thought marketing it would not be worth the costhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230317004513/https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/01/16/what-happened-to-star-wars-battlefront-iii. A trailer, web documentary, and covermount demo would go unusedhttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c3_TM88uEgoPlbhBYnpJzFxQocuxKlsvPb5WN00MH-8/edit#gid=197285251. However, by then, the fact that the game was in development had started leaking to the publichttps://web.archive.org/web/20220702223901/https://kotaku.com/rumor-ex-lucasarts-staffer-talks-kotor-3-more-indy-w-5013769https://web.archive.org/web/20210422023623/https://kotaku.com/amazon-shows-star-wars-battlefront-iii-coming-to-everyt-5023156 / https://web.archive.org/web/20210502033709/https://www.gamekult.com/actualite/un-star-wars-battlefront-iii-a-venir-67920.html (includes specific date of release).
A critical milestone would come at August 2008 - the Alpha milestone. A LucasArts alpha is similiar to an industry gold master – a build that is content-complete and bug-free. However, starting from December 2006, the milestone schedule started to place finalizations of content in months following the Alpha state (but always before the Beta state which was to be six months afterwards and was considered a first release candidate)Milestone Definitions v2.4.doc, something the time extension would have probably done even more. Regardless, the milestone was not reached, as the game still had a variety of bugs and performance issuesFootage of this milestone is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cqZHrUG0oI. This led LucasArts to cancel development on Battlefront IV, claiming it could not afford development on both titles at once. Free Radical entered redundancy consultation following the milestone. Despite that, it believed that Battlefront III could still be finishedhttps://web.archive.org/web/20220626162235/https://www.vg247.com/out-of-time-the-free-radical-story-part-two.
In October, the month Battlefront III was originally meant to release, n-Space's DS version was completed and ready for releasehttps://web.archive.org/web/20110920063611/http://www.classification.gov.au/www/cob/find.nsf/5c2433d416948a0bca25759f00820d25/42572300ee076c38ca257671007b1e1d?OpenDocumenthttps://web.archive.org/web/20120825214435/http://nintendoeverything.com/96721/nintendoeverything-interview-n-space-talks-heroes-of-ruin-mary-kate-and-ashley-winter-and-more/2/.
Development continued; however, when it became apparent the November milestone would not be reached, LucasArts saw that release by April 2009 would not be possible. Ties with Free Radical were severed, with the publisher only providing a small part of the contractual termination fee. They knew Free Radical did not have the means to fight against this.
Failing to find a publisher for TimeSplitters 4, Free Radical would enter into administration on December 18https://web.archive.org/web/20131227220348/http://www.edge-online.com/features/source-free-radical-locked/. They would make 143 employees redundant, leaving 40 behind to keep the company running. Interest in purchasing the studio was highhttps://web.archive.org/web/20200716205341/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/very-strong-interest-in-free-radical-design-sale, with Rebellion being one of the interested partieshttps://web.archive.org/web/20181023131322/https://www.gamestm.co.uk/features/exclusive-timesplitters-4-interview/. The company would eventually be purchased by Crytekhttps://web.archive.org/web/20191217182147/https://kotaku.com/crytek-buys-free-radical-5145829, whom the remaining employees respected as they were known for their technological achievements and were planning to allow the studio to operate as an autonomous unit.
:The FRD engine was really stretched beyond it's capabilities and there were a lot of issues with the game that had to be fixed. The footage that was released was carefully selected and edited to make the game look more finished than it was (for portfolio purposes etc). There was easily 6 - 12 months of work left.
:— Free Radical employee
:Pressing X to jump as Asajj Ventress caused a crash, and those crashes, if you were in a multiplayer match, infected the whole network and all the consoles in the match crashed too. It was hell. I would agree for the 99% done, but 0.2% fixed, it really was a pain to play, but so fun, even with the crashes we had fun. It really was Battlefront 2 remade with more features and better graphics.
:— QA tester, Enzyme Testing Labs
 
File:BF3 Showreel v6
File:BF3 alphaNov
==2009 - Year of Rebellion==
:Creating a 'next gen' version of our Battlefront was relatively trivial. I didn't work on it myself but there was a version of our game that ran on those platforms. The impossible bit would have been making the leap in quality that one would expect for a next-gen title. At least in the suggested timescale (months rather than years).
:— Rebellion employee
Following the cancellation of Free Radical's Battlefront III, LucasArts approached Rebellion on continuing the development of the project. Rebellion, whose engine (Asura) was adaptable and capable of cross-platform development, believed that code could be reused from their old-generation versionshttp://web.archive.org/web/20150926155540/http://www.vg247.com/2009/01/20/rebellion-wanted-to-up-ps2-battlefront-iii-to-360-and-ps3-versions/ and that proper space-to-ground (without cutscene transition) could be achieved due to the additional power of the hardware. Because of this, they promised low production costs and a tight deadlinehttps://web.archive.org/web/20190216003439/https://goneisgone.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-radical-design-star-wars-and.html and began creating pitches for next-generation systems, including the Wiihttps://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/2/2b/Rebref2.png/revision/latest?cb=20230419203219. 
Kashyyyk_2.jpg|Kashyyyk on the Xbox 360 (March 18, 2009)
Kashyyyk_6.jpg|The pitches were created by a small in-house team within Rebellion Oxford, with the majority of asset creation being outsourced.
Free Radical would learn of Rebellion's Battlefront III only after their version was cancelled.
Soon howeverThis UMD from March 2009 uses the name Elite Squadron: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/a/af/UMD01.png/revision/latest?cb=20240312085756, Rebellion found out that creating a version suitable for the next-generation was not possible within their current production schedulehttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/6/6c/FRDArchive_Rebellion_04.png/revision/latest?cb=20190316152253. As a result, plans for a next-generation release were abandoned, with the remaining versions to be rebranded to Star Wars: Battlefront: Elite Squadron. The same would follow for the Indiana Jones project, as its old-generation versions were completed and the next-generation versions were not progressing as fast as LucasArts wantedhttps://web.archive.org/web/20211028120807/https://www.fanbyte.com/features/whatever-happened-to-indiana-jones-and-the-staff-of-kings/.
A near-final build of Battlefront III's PSP version.
Gamestop.jpg|If this leaked listing is related to Rebellion's Battlefront III, the next-generation versions would have had only one year to be developed.
During the rebrand, LucasArts would cancel the PS2 version as Renegade Squadron did not release on the platform and, as such, it would be harder to market without the marketing backing Free Radical’s version would have receivedhttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/c/c6/FRDArchive_Rebellion_06.png/revision/latest?cb=20190316153005. The game was completed in Aprilhttps://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/2/2c/FRDArchive_Rebellion03.png/revision/latest?cb=20240312160758 and after a leak of the game's ESRB ratingshttps://web.archive.org/web/20220819120437/https://kotaku.com/esrb-reveals-details-on-new-star-wars-battlefront-games-5263344, it was announced on May 26http://web.archive.org/web/20210511143550/https://kotaku.com/lucasarts-confirms-star-wars-battlefront-elite-squadro-5270334. Following a presentation at E3 2009 and the release of marketing materials, such as a web documentaryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI25oF7fEFk, the game would release on November 3 to mediocre reviewshttps://web.archive.org/web/20120301040604/https://www.metacritic.com/game/psp/star-wars-battlefront-elite-squadronhttps://web.archive.org/web/20100903004115/https://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/star-wars-battlefront-elite-squadron.
BF3 Tools 2008-06-03 16-45-47-99.jpg|Battlefront III PSP, in-engine, June 2008
Asura.jpg|Battlefront: Elite Squadron, in-engine, May 2009
===A Mobile Battlefront III?===
:A Battlefront game was being developed for PSP; we were tasked with making a mobile version for it. We believe that America was dealing with the development of the mobile game and that is why we didn’t see it in Europe. We believe it was going to be a ground-breaking online multiplayer game (hadn’t been done at that time) and as such was only supported by a few operators with a suitable network (possibly was just Verizon in America).
:— THQ Employee
In January, Star Wars: Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons was announced by THQ Wireless, with Mikoishi as the developerhttps://web.archive.org/web/20211228113106/https://www.pocketgamer.com/star-wars-battlefront-mobile-squadrons/star-wars-battlefront-mobile-squadrons-coming-to-mobile/. It was released on April 2https://web.archive.org/web/20160421145331/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/star-wars-battlefront--mobile-squadrons-mobile-follow-up-launches-in-the-states-tomorrow, similar to how Battlefront Mobile, Battlefront II’s mobile version, was released a day after its releasehttps://web.archive.org/web/20230405131324/https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/11/01/star-wars-battlefront-mobile. However, only a few images survive today, with the files considered lost.
BattlefrontMobileSquadrons.png|Information on gameplay can be found here and here.
5_THQWireless_StarWarsTheForceUnleashed_print_doublePage_full.jpg|Marketing for the mobile versions of The Force Unleashed, by Andrew Howard.
==2010 - Creating a new Battlefront==
===Slant Six's Battlefront Online===
: You could not push through a new major console project at LucasArts at that time. There was no appetite for it. Even as early as 2009, the powers that be at Lucasfilm would not agree with that kind of expenditure. I think the board at Lucas had just lost their stomach for the risk there.
:— LucasArts employee
The development and cancellation of Free Radical’s Battlefront III was disastrous for the company. From 2009 onwards, the publisher was unwilling to fund a large-scale console project and, as such, the next Battlefront game was to be much smaller in scope than the original sequel. In early 2010, Slant Six Games began developing Star Wars: Battlefront Onlinehttps://web.archive.org/web/20230312230920/https://kotaku.com/rumor-socom-devs-working-on-star-wars-battlefront-on-5458570, a downloadable, online-only Battlefront game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, meant to release in early 2011. After a few months of pre-production, it became apparent that the game would not be completed by the end of the year. This led LucasArts to put development of the project 'on hold'https://web.archive.org/web/20230212193448/https://kotaku.com/star-wars-battlefront-online-binned-as-developers-laid-5513063. Shortly after, Darrell Rodriguez would resign from his position as presidenthttps://web.archive.org/web/20230212182956/https://kotaku.com/lucasarts-president-resigns-update-5533053, with Paul Meegan replacing him a few weeks laterhttps://web.archive.org/web/20100715215910/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/lucasarts-installs-new-president-article.
Following the release of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City in 2012, assets from the cancelled game would be found in its fileshttps://web.archive.org/web/20230314215511/https://www.neogaf.com/threads/do-you-remember-the-rumour-of-slant-six-working-on-battlefront-3-it-was-true.468709/. This discovery led Capcom to cut ties with the company, which would result in their closure a year laterhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230315005826/https://www.gamewatcher.com/news/2017-02-08-operation-raccoon-city-dev-had-new-resident-evil-title-canned-due-to-star-wars-battlefront-leaks.
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===LucasArts' Three-Step Approach=== 
:We didn’t take inspiration from any of the canceled Battlefront 3 projects that came before [...] We wanted to build everything up from scratch. There were reasons why all those BF3s were never published.
: — Tony Rowe
In 2010, LucasArts would begin work on Star Wars: First Assault (codenamed Trigger), as George Lucas wanted to compete with the Call of Duty serieshttps://web.archive.org/web/20230325040441/https://kotaku.com/how-lucasarts-fell-apart-1401731043. Following a change of setting from the post-Return of the Jedi era and later the Clone Wars era, the game was to be a online-only first-person shooter taking place during the Galactic Civil War. It would be a grittier approach to Star Wars, focusing solely on 8v8 infantry combat, without vehicles or Force-sensitive characters. The class system would be similar to Call of Duty's, with the player being able to create classes consisting of various weapons, attachments and deployableshttps://web.archive.org/web/20220915190930/https://www.gamingbible.co.uk/features/games-star-wars-first-assault-team-on-how-the-game-was-scrapped-by-disney-20200729. Additionally, a special music system was created, which would play different tracks recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, depending on various in-game factors. First Assault would have been released in 2013 on the Xbox Live Arcade, a platform that allowed for quick publishing of small gameshttp://web.archive.org/web/20230419204255/https://twitter.com/bagelpriest/status/1139916629956079616. At one point, the game was to be free-to-play with microtransactions, but this idea was discarded.
Version One - Project Trigger (First Assault)
2 image 05 v3 alien 2.jpg|Concept Art by Richard Lim
A year following its release, 'Version Two', built off a cancelled Wii U starfighter game codenamed Wingman, would have been released, incorporating ground vehicles and other Battlefront elements.
Version Two - Project Wingman
Finally, in 2015, Battlefront III would have been released, expanding upon the two previous games with a singleplayer campaign and space battleshttp://web.archive.org/web/20221206002703/https://www.gamesradar.com/star-wars-first-assault-battlefront-3-almost-was/.
V3.png|Version Three - Battlefront III (concept art by Jesse Moore)
V2.png|LucasArts' Battlefront III was to feature interactive battlefields, with base building being a feature. While no detailed information exists on how this was to be implemented, Free Radical had thought of such as a concept in March 2006 (with the idea being abandoned in later versions of the concept document).
It was thought that, via this method, the project would not become a victim of over-ambition, as Free Radical’s project had been. First Assault's beta, featuring a number of maps on Bespin and Tatooine (with Kashyyyk and Tantive IV planned for a later releaseKashyyyk cubemap inside leaked technical beta: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/4/4a/FA1.png/revision/latest?cb=20230419204805 / Tantive IV cubemap inside leaked technical beta: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thevaultproject-battlefront3/images/c/cf/FA2.png/revision/latest?cb=20230419204811) was ready to release on September, with only certification and localisation costs (five-figures, estimated to be $10.000) remaining. However, that same month, Lucasfilm enacted a hiring freeze, preventing any marketing and game announcements. On October 30, it was announced that The Walt Disney Company had acquired Lucasfilm – LucasArts would be shut down in April 2013http://web.archive.org/web/20221108213159/https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-22025391. All game projects were cancelled.
:After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games.
:— Disney
== Epilogue - The Present==
The Battlefront series was rebooted following the Disney purchase, with DICE and Electronic Arts releasing Star Wars Battlefront in 2015 and Star Wars Battlefront II in 2017. However, a pitch for a sequel would be turned down due to licensing costshttps://web.archive.org/web/20220511113456/https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1461869544780222472. 
Gitcnd.png|Lucasfilm confirms the existence of Free Radical's Battlefront III, almost a decade after it was supposed to.
TFU2.png|A small amount of assets from Free Radical’s Battlefront III were used in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, such as this low-quality version of its A-wing.
Jedib1.png|Free Radical's B1 battle droid model appears in the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges mobile augmented reality game.
==References==
Some sources are used multiple times; they are linked only once.
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