Gaming4 MIN

An EGM rumor puts Bungie in the running for Star Wars Battlefront 3

Electronic Gaming Monthly's Quartermann column claims Lucasfilm is looking for a developer, with DICE in front and Sony-owned Bungie as the backup. None of the companies has confirmed it.

First Order AT-M6 walkers and stormtroopers advance through explosions across a white plain in Star Wars Battlefront II
Image: DICE / Electronic Arts / Lucasfilm · Steam

Lucasfilm, the Disney division that runs Star Wars, is reportedly looking for a studio to make Star Wars Battlefront 3, and Bungie, the studio behind Halo and Destiny, is said to be one of two candidates. The claim comes from Quartermann, the gossip column in Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) issue 265. It puts DICE, which made both of EA's Battlefront games, at the front of the line, with Bungie in the picture if DICE passes.

The column itself says no studio has committed yet. Lucasfilm, EA and Bungie have not commented.

01

Where the rumor started

EGM raised money on Kickstarter in 2024 for a book about its own history. Issue 265 went out digitally to those backers on October 9, according to The Game Post. The rumor spread on October 19, when Jeff Grubb read the passage aloud on Game Mess Mornings, the show he hosts for Giant Bomb. Insider Gaming wrote it up the same day, and Spanish outlet Vandal followed on Tuesday.

Quartermann is the pen name behind EGM's old rumor page, revived for this issue. Wccftech notes that the column has always been part news, part gossip. None of the outlets quoting it say who writes it now or where the information comes from. Grubb was only reading the column, and his own guess is that the job goes to DICE rather than Bungie.

02

What Lucasfilm has actually said

The closest thing to an official signal comes from Douglas Reilly, vice president of Lucasfilm Games. In an interview covered by PC Gamer on October 19, he said big triple-A games like Battlefront will always be an essential part of the company's plans. He did not announce a sequel or mention any studio.

Reilly also said Lucasfilm now takes pitches from a wider range of teams, adding that "you don't have to necessarily be a top five publisher" to make a great Star Wars game. That approach produced two of this year's games from independent studios, Fuse Games' Galactic Racer and Bit Reactor's Zero Company, which we covered in our August release roundup, and Reilly said it is very much part of the strategy. He added that Lucasfilm's quality bar usually means working with experienced teams, and both DICE and Bungie fit that description.

There is a commercial case for another Battlefront. Star Wars Battlefront II launched in November 2017. EA and DICE stopped adding content after the 25th update, The Battle on Scarif, on April 29, 2020, but kept the servers running. In May 2025 the game was the 12th best-selling title in the US, according to Circana figures shared by analyst Mat Piscatella and reported by Kotaku. Piscatella credited the Revenge of the Sith anniversary, Andor and digital discounts.

The Millennium Falcon fights in orbit alongside X-wing and TIE fighters, with a planet below, in Star Wars Battlefront II
Image: DICE / Electronic Arts / Lucasfilm · Steam
03

Why DICE fits and Bungie is a surprise

DICE made the 2015 and 2017 games while EA held exclusive rights to Star Wars games under a ten-year deal signed in 2013. The studio now sits inside Battlefield Studios, the EA group that keeps Battlefield 6 going with seasons such as the one that brought back Wake Island. EA also still works with Lucasfilm as the publisher of Zero Company.

Bungie is in a very different spot. Sony closed its $3.6 billion purchase of the studio on July 15, 2022. This year Bungie launched Marathon on March 5, shipped the final Destiny 2 update on June 9 and, on June 25, laid off most of the Destiny team along with some Marathon developers, Game Informer reported. In September its new leadership admitted the studio had lost players' trust, and Kotaku reports it has no new game greenlit.

A veteran studio with nothing new in production makes Bungie a plausible name. The rumor skips one complication, though. Sony owns Bungie, so any Lucasfilm contract would need PlayStation's approval, and the column, as quoted, does not say who would publish the game in that case.

Rey raises her blue lightsaber against a group of stormtroopers in a Jakku settlement in Star Wars Battlefront II
Image: DICE / Electronic Arts / Lucasfilm · Steam
04

How much to believe it

Based on what has been published so far, the rumor is possible but unproven. Lucasfilm wanting another Battlefront fits both Reilly's comments and Battlefront II's recent sales. The claim that it approached DICE and Bungie rests on a single column with no known author. Kotaku points to an X account, SWBFUpdates, that says it heard something similar, but only about Disney's interest and without naming studios. Bungie is the weakest part of the story, and even Grubb is betting on DICE.

A Lucasfilm announcement, DICE or Bungie job listings for a Star Wars shooter, or a comment from EA or Sony would change that read. Even if a deal exists, Insider Gaming expects the talks to be at an early stage, which puts any new Battlefront several years away.

00

The conversation starts here

Sign in with a supporter account to comment. Sign in

Nobody has commented yet. Want to go first?

KEEP READING

You may also like

FRONT PAGE