There's been plenty of rumors and speculation surrounding LucasArts' supposed Star Wars: Battlefront 3, but the most recent claim about the project came from Free Radical Design co-founder Steve Ellis, who said last week that Battfront 3 was 99% complete when it was canceled due to "financial reasons."
As you can imagine, this started quite the frenzy among fans and gamers, but according to a former LucasArts employee, it was "just bullsh*t."
Speaking anonymously to GameSpot, the former employee said, "This 99 percent complete stuff is just bullsh*t. A generous estimate would be 75 percent of a mediocre game."
The source cited Free Radical's inability to meet deadlines and deliveries as the primary reason behind the cancelation, not the rumor that the project was "sabotaged."
"I was at LucasArts during this time, working on Battlefront 3, and remember it well. Everybody from producers to marketing was 100 percent invested in making the relationship work," the source explained.. "We were desperate for a next-gen followup to Battlefront (the claim that the project was sabotaged for financial reasons is ludicrous. The [Battlefront] franchise was a huge money maker at the time). When Free Radical continually missed dates and deliveries, [former LucasArts presidents Jim Ward and Darrell Rodriguez] made many 'good will' whole or partial milestone payments to keep the project going.".
"The failure of Battlefront 3 was tragic for everyone involved, not least the fans," the source concluded. "There's a lot of blame to go around and many different perspectives. I won't though let Steve Ellis whitewash the part that he and Free Radical played. I'd suggest that everyone keep this as something tragic to muse over with a beer rather than throwing stones in public."
Perhaps we'll never know the real reasons behind the cancelation, but this at least goes to show that there are two sides to every story. There's clearly a demand for a new Star Wars: Battlefront game, but if it was truly as bad as this source say it was, then maybe it's better we never got to play it.
