Star Wars Battlefront 3 rumors heat up as Lucasfilm reportedly talks to DICE and Bungie

Star Wars Battlefront 3 may finally be moving again, but it is much too early to call the sequel real.

A new industry rumor claims Lucasfilm is looking for a development partner for another Battlefront and that both EA DICE and Bungie have been part of those conversations.

The interesting part is not simply that two famous shooter studios have been named. It is that the rumor arrives after Battlefront II spent the last year proving that an eight-year-old multiplayer game can still pull a surprisingly large audience. At the same time, official EA communication was still saying only a few months ago that there were no known plans for a third entry.

So what has actually changed? After checking the original rumor trail, EA’s own recent comments, Lucasfilm’s current approach to game development, and Battlefront II’s player data, there are reasons to take the story seriously, but not enough to treat Battlefront 3 as announced or even fully greenlit.

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Where the new Battlefront 3 rumor comes from

The current story can be traced to issue 265 of the revived Electronic Gaming Monthly and its returning Quartermann rumor column.

The claim was subsequently discussed by journalist Jeff Grubb during the October 19 episode of Game Mess Mornings. According to the rumor, Lucasfilm has been looking for a development partner capable of taking Battlefront forward, but has not yet found a studio that has fully committed.

Two names are reportedly in the conversation: EA DICE, which developed the 2015 Battlefront reboot and 2017’s Battlefront II, and Bungie, the studio behind Halo and Destiny.

That wording matters. Nothing currently indicates that one of those studios has signed a contract, that full production has started, or even that Lucasfilm has formally announced a greenlight. This sounds much closer to partner discussions than a game already racing toward reveal.

Why DICE would make sense

DICE is the obvious candidate because the modern Battlefront identity is largely its creation. The Swedish studio built both of EA’s main entries around huge ground battles, vehicles, starfighters, recognizable heroes, and the kind of audiovisual presentation that made even an ordinary blaster fight look like a scene from the movies.

Battlefront II also finished its active development period in a much healthier state than it began. DICE delivered 25 free content updates before the final Battle on Scarif update in April 2020, adding Clone Wars characters, new planets, Supremacy, co-op, reinforcements, skins, offline modes, and content from across the Skywalker Saga.

If Lucasfilm wants another large-scale Battlefront that feels immediately connected to the previous two games, DICE requires the least explanation. The larger question is whether the studio wants to return and whether EA would consider the licensing and production commitment worthwhile.

Why Bungie is the surprising option

Bungie would represent a much bigger break from the previous two games. It has no history developing Battlefront, but very few studios have a stronger résumé when it comes to science-fiction gunplay.

Halo established Bungie’s reputation for readable sandbox combat, vehicles, strong weapon identities, and multiplayer that could switch naturally between infantry battles and much bigger encounters. Destiny later pushed the studio toward long-term progression, ability-driven combat, and live multiplayer systems.

That does not mean a Bungie Battlefront would simply become Destiny with stormtroopers. If the discussions are real, the intriguing question would be whether Lucasfilm wants an entirely new interpretation of Battlefront rather than another direct continuation of DICE’s structure.

EA was denying knowledge of Battlefront 3 only months ago

There is another useful piece of context that makes the timing of the rumor interesting.

Four months ago, an EA community manager responded directly to a player asking where Battlefront 3 was. The answer was that they were not aware of any plans for a third entry and could only pass the feedback to the team.

That was not a formal statement from EA management, and community teams are not necessarily briefed on early licensing conversations. Still, it strongly suggests that Battlefront 3 was not something EA was publicly preparing fans for as recently as mid-2026.

If the new talks are genuine, they may therefore be exactly what they sound like: early discussions about who could make the game rather than evidence of a secret sequel already deep in production.

Battlefront II proved the audience is still there

The strongest argument for reviving Battlefront is not another social-media campaign. It is what happened to Battlefront II’s player numbers.

The game experienced a huge resurgence in 2025. SteamCharts recorded a peak of more than 35,000 concurrent Steam players in June 2025, years after DICE stopped releasing regular content. In the month before that surge, the game had been averaging fewer than 1,000 concurrent Steam players.

The numbers have naturally fallen since then, but Battlefront II has not disappeared. During the last 30 days in October 2026 it has still been averaging close to 1,000 concurrent players on Steam alone. That does not count EA App, PlayStation, or Xbox players.

For a multiplayer shooter released in 2017 and left without regular content updates since 2020, that is hard to ignore. Lucasfilm does not need to guess whether people still care about Battlefront. The audience already demonstrated that it can come back.

Lucasfilm no longer needs to default to EA

One reason Bungie’s name is plausible at all is that the Star Wars licensing landscape is completely different from when Battlefront II launched.

In 2013, EA entered an exclusive multi-year agreement to create core Star Wars games. By 2021, Lucasfilm Games was openly describing a new model built around collaborating with different “best-in-class” developers across genres and platforms.

EA remained an important partner rather than being pushed out entirely. Lucasfilm later announced several additional Star Wars projects with Respawn. But Ubisoft, Quantic Dream, Skydance and other studios also became part of the wider Star Wars gaming slate.

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That means a new Battlefront no longer has to be an automatic EA project. If Lucasfilm believes another studio has the right multiplayer technology, staff, schedule, or creative pitch, the current licensing structure gives it much more freedom to explore that option.

So is Battlefront 3 actually happening?

Not yet, at least not in any form that has been publicly confirmed.

There is no announcement from Lucasfilm Games. EA has not confirmed a new Battlefront. DICE has not said it is returning. Bungie has not announced a Star Wars project. There is no trailer, release date, platform list, official title, or confirmed development team.

What has changed is the quality of the conversation around the possibility. Instead of another fan petition or vague social-media tease, the latest claim specifically describes Lucasfilm looking for a partner and names two studios with serious shooter credentials.

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Battlefront 3 suddenly feels possible again

Battlefront fans have been through enough false starts that skepticism is healthy. Right now, there is still a large gap between Lucasfilm discussing potential partners and somebody actually shipping Star Wars Battlefront 3.

But the situation is more interesting than it was a year ago. Battlefront II demonstrated that the audience can return in huge numbers, Lucasfilm has the freedom to work with studios outside EA, and two major FPS developers are now being linked to the same project.

For the first time in a while, the question may no longer be whether anyone wants another Battlefront. It may be who Lucasfilm can convince to build it.