Earlier this year, we officially got a look at the Star Wars Battlefront 3 fan remake, Galaxy in Turmoil, that intended on resurrecting the cancelled game and bringing it into Unreal Engine 4. It appears as though neither EA or LucasFilm will allow this remake to move ahead. LucasFilm sent the team behind Galaxy in Turmoil a cease and desist order, effectively bringing development to a standstill.
In June, it was announced that Valve had given the free game a green light for the game to hit Steam. Frontwire president Tony Romanelli took to the Galaxy in Turmoil site to speak about the cease and desist order:
“On Wednesday June 22, 2016, we received a letter from Lucasfilm requesting that we halt production of Galaxy in Turmoil with any Star Wars related IP at once. 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.
“Our highly publicized project as you have come to know it will no longer be a Star Wars game inspired by Battlefront,” he says. “Upon speaking with Lucasfilm, they informed us that they have no issue with a Battlefront inspired game that is not using the Star Wars IP itself. Regardless of what some have said, all of our code, sounds and many other non-Star Wars assets have been created in-house, which means they are indeed owned by us.
“Going forward, Frontwire Studios will be pivoting away from Star Wars and embarking on a mission to create a new, original game in a never before seen universe. Our game will still have massive 64-player battles, ground-to-space combat, destructible capital ships, and a full single-player campaign. We will also still be releasing Galaxy in Turmoil on Steam as planned and it will remain a free game.”
TL;DR: LucasFilm wanted to work out a licensing deal, but EA's contract with LucasFilm wouldn't allow that. Instead, LucasFilm told Romanelli to ditch the 'Star Wars' name and say the game was inspired by Battlefront.
This remake was coming years after Star Wars Battlefront 3 was cancelled. Since the game's official cancellation we have seen gameplay leaks, awesome aerial battles and heard various rumors that suggested the game had been at around 75% complete before being cancelled (a developer on the project called that rumor "just bullsh*t").
When Valve approved the game, fears that Disney/LucasFilm would cancel it were somewhat assuaged – even the developer felt more confident.
"I'll be honest–I've had mild concerns myself from time to time," Romanelli said at the time. "However, Valve clearly lacks that same concern. By agreeing to publish Galaxy in Turmoil, Valve is assisting us in growing and ensuring the longevity of the Galaxy in Turmoil project and community as a whole."
