Star Wars Battlefront will be first-person, with optional third-person perspective

When it was revelaed that DICE would be developing EA's new Star Wars Battlefront, one of the major questions was which perspective the game would offer to players. Turns out, DICE will be giving players the choice.

While Star Wars Battlefront is seemingly being developed with a first-person perspective as priority, DICE has confirmed they'll also include an optional third-person perspective for fans who preview the series' original view. Switching between first-person and third-person is as easy as the press of a button, regardless of whether your playing as ground infantry or piloting a ship from the cockpit.

Of course, with DICE having worked mostly with first-person (on Battlefield 4), producer Craig Mcleod admitted there was a learning curve with Battlefront.

“Battlefield doesn’t have first- and third-person. We know fans expect it, they’re incredibly passionate about switching between it. It’s a lot of animation work," he told IGN. "It’s one of those features, like split-screen, that’s core to what the experience is. We put the time and effort into Battlefront to make it the game fans need it to be.”

Other details revealed today include the ability to play as iconic Star Wars characters from the original trilogy, such as Darth Vader and Boba Fett, as well as support for up to 40 players on a map. Battlefield's max is 64. For those wondering why 40, here's what Mcleod said:

"When developing the best gameplay experience, we tried all sorts of numbers, but we found that 40 players delivers the best experience for the universe. We didn’t want to use an arbitrary number that would lessen the experience. We have a range of modes that affect the experience, all the way down to eight players for a more intimate experience."

Star Wars Battlefront will officially make its debut today during EA's panel at Star Wars Celebration. You can tune in to the panel via a livestream, starting at 10:30am PST.