EA Pairs DICE and Respawn on a New Game, Reportedly Battlefront 3

EA has confirmed that DICE and Respawn are working together on something new. In the same message to staff that announced BioWare's closure, EA said the two studios have been assigned to "a future project," without naming it (VGC). Multiple sources told Variety that the project is Star Wars: Battlefront 3 for Lucasfilm. Neither EA nor Lucasfilm has confirmed the Star Wars part.

That lines up with a busy week of Battlefront rumors. On October 19, a gossip column claimed Lucasfilm was shopping for a Battlefront 3 studio, with DICE in front and Bungie as the backup (we covered that rumor here). Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer then claimed that DICE and Respawn were both working on it. Bloomberg's sources have also said the new DICE and Respawn shooter is likely Battlefront 3 (Kotaku).

What would DICE and Respawn bring to Battlefront 3?

DICE made Star Wars Battlefront in 2015 and Battlefront II in 2017. The second game had a rough launch over loot boxes and locked heroes. EA's Reddit reply promising players "a sense of pride and accomplishment" for earning heroes like Darth Vader became the most downvoted comment in Reddit history. Years of free updates eventually turned the game around, and it hit its highest-ever Steam player count in 2025.

Respawn made Titanfall, Apex Legends and the Star Wars Jedi games, and EA says Star Wars Jedi 3 is still on its list of games in development (Kotaku). That gives the studio years of experience with lightsaber combat, Force powers and fast, competitive multiplayer.

The timing is hard to ignore. EA announced the pairing on the same day it cut about 400 jobs and shut down BioWare, so the Battlefront news lands with mixed feelings for a lot of fans.

I'd argue this is about the best combination EA could put together for Battlefront 3. Respawn has proven it can make a lightsaber feel right, and DICE knows how to make a 40-player battle feel enormous (Galactic Assault on Hoth, anyone?). Until Lucasfilm says the name out loud, though, it's still officially just "a future project."

More Star Wars news is right here.

Header image and the Luke Skywalker screenshot are official Star Wars Battlefront II screenshots from EA and Lucasfilm, via Steam.