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An unofficial sequel to Star Wars Battlefront 2 will not be allowed to use the Star Wars name or take place in its universe.
Developer Frontwire announced plans to release the game for free on Steam last month. However, it will be of little surprise to hear that LucasFilm has stepped in to halt the plans.
We received a letter from LucasFilm requesting that we halt production of Galaxy in Turmoil with any Star Wars related IP at once,” Frontwire president Tony Romanelli said.
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.
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 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.
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.
I do not for a second hold any grudge against EA and/or LucasFilm, and neither should our community. The Star Wars brand is a highly valuable and lucrative brand. I would expect nothing less from LucasFilm than to do everything they can to protect and preserve their intellectual property.
As a businessman, I have enough respect for other companies and their intellectual properties to not put up a fight that should not be fought in the first place. At the end of the day Star Wars is LucasFilm’s property, and they have every right to request Frontwire stop using their IP, even if we believe that we were within legal limits.”
The plan now is that the work put into the game thus far will be adapted for a new non-licensed sci-fi shooter, which as before will be released for free on Steam. Frontwire is also sticking to its promise of not be adding any micro transactions or pay-to-win content”.
Romanelli added that plans are in place to crowdfund the game, but only once a working demo is developed and released.
Added the dev: Too often have we seen video game projects crowdfund, make a boat load of cash and then die out leaving the community empty handed. We refuse to be another statistic.”
