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Battlefront 3 Rumor, Explained: DICE, Bungie or Respawn — What We Know

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Nearly a decade after Battlefront II, a third game is back in serious discussion — not as an announcement, but as a rumor about who might make it. A revived Electronic Gaming Monthly column, aired via the Giant Bomb Game Mess Mornings podcast on October 19, reports that Lucasfilm has been sounding out development partners for Star Wars Battlefront 3, with EA DICE and Bungie the two names in contention. Hours later, a second claim surfaced: Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer said on X that DICE and Respawn are the ones actually working on it.

This is how Battlefront 3 rumors always go — explosive, thinly sourced, and worth about half of what the headline suggests. So instead of just repeating the chatter, here is the rumor-triaging treatment: what was actually claimed, what the sources are worth, and why the question of who makes it matters more than whether the rumor is true.

In brief

  • What’s reported: Lucasfilm Games is reportedly looking for a development partner for Battlefront 3; DICE and Bungie are the two studios named in a revived EGM “Quartermann” rumor column aired on Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings (Oct 19).
  • The second claim: Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer posted on X that DICE and Respawn “are working on Battlefront 3” — a stronger claim, from a weaker source, backed in part by the Star Wars leaker FivesWalker.
  • The caveat, stated plainly: nothing is announced. Reporter Jeff Grubb — who has tracked this story closely — says Battlefront 3 “does not appear to be in active development yet, although early planning may have already taken place.” There is no deal, no release window, and no platforms.
  • Why the studio question matters: whoever builds Battlefront 3 inherits the baggage of Battlefront II’s loot-box disaster — and that history decides whether fans trust it.

What the rumor actually says

The spark is the Quartermann, a notorious gossip column from the original Electronic Gaming Monthly that has been revived for EGM’s comeback. Its claim, in plain terms: the suits at Lucasfilm have been “aggressively deploying probe droids” for a studio to build a Battlefront 3 follow-up. Two names are circling the project.

The obvious one is EA DICE, the studio behind both modern Battlefront games (2015 and 2017). The surprising one is Bungie — the Sony-owned studio behind Halo, Destiny, and this year’s extraction shooter Marathon. According to the column, if the game is not entrusted to DICE, it could land at Bungie.

Then came the twist. Joe Brammer — CEO of Bulkhead, the studio behind the World War I shooter Battalion 1944 — posted on X that from what he has heard, DICE and Respawn are working on Battlefront 3, not DICE and Bungie. That is a materially different claim: it upgrades the story from “Lucasfilm is shopping” to “work is underway,” and swaps the surprise studio from Bungie to Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi). The Star Wars leaker FivesWalker, who has a solid track record, has backed at least the first part of the rumors — but the DICE/Respawn claim has not been independently corroborated.

Why Grubb is skeptical, and you should be too

Jeff Grubb’s reaction is the most useful signal in the whole story. Grubb has been a reliable source on EA and Lucasfilm’s plans for years, and his position is consistent: Battlefront 3 is not in active development yet, though early planning may have taken place. He also does not buy the Bungie angle — and the Quartermann’s own history gives reason for caution. In its original 1990s run, the column was as much gossip as reporting; it broke real stories and printed nonsense in roughly equal measure.

So calibrate your expectations. What the story supports is: Lucasfilm is interested in a third Battlefront and has talked to people. What it does not support is: a studio has signed on, production has started, or anyone knows when it ships. A rumor that a company is looking for a development partner is, by definition, a rumor that nobody has agreed to do the work yet.

The studio-fit scorecard: who actually makes sense

This is where the story gets interesting regardless of whether the rumor pans out. The three names being floated are wildly different fits, and each one tells a different story about what Battlefront 3 would be.

DICE is the obvious choice — and the complicated one. The studio defined the modern series and still leads EA’s Battlefield franchise. The problem is bandwidth: EA has rallied DICE, Criterion (the Burnout/Need for Speed studio), and others around Battlefield as its flagship shooter. A Battlefront 3 would have to sit alongside that priority, and DICE’s most recent big swing, Battlefield 6, has not had an easy reception. DICE making it is the fan-favorite outcome and the most plausible — but it is far from free.

Bungie is the headline choice — and the one that makes the least business sense. Bungie knows how to make first-person shooters that feel superb (Halo, Destiny) and it could arguably make the best-playing Battlefront ever made. But Bungie is owned by Sony, is still steadying Marathon after its rocky launch, and has said more Destiny is on the way after winding down Destiny 2 support. A Sony-owned studio building a licensed Star Wars game for Lucasfilm would be an unusual corporate arrangement, and it would pull Bungie away from the original IPs it exists to make. As one commentator put it, it would also be a betrayal of the Destiny fanbase, who would much rather have Destiny 3.

Respawn is the quiet, sensible answer. The DICE-and-Respawn claim — if Brammer’s source is right — is arguably the most plausible combination in the entire story. Respawn has the EA relationship, the Star Wars experience (the Jedi games), and first-person shooter pedigree in Titanfall. With Jedi 3 reportedly nearing readiness, Respawn could have capacity coming free. A DICE–Respawn collaboration would be creatively ideal: DICE’s large-scale multiplayer craft plus Respawn’s movement and gunplay. It is also the claim with the thinnest sourcing, so treat it as the most exciting and the least verified.

The loot-box ghost that haunts all of this

Whoever makes Battlefront 3 will build it under the shadow of 2017. Battlefront II launched with a progression system so aggressive it became a global scandal: it drew political scrutiny, forced EA to overhaul the game before launch, and remains the cautionary tale every publisher cites when discussing monetization.

That history is precisely why the studio question matters. Fans did not just want Battlefront II fixed — they wanted to know a sequel would not repeat it. Battlefront II’s remarkable second act (it surpassed 35,000 concurrent players on Steam last year, nine years after launch) happened because the game underneath the monetization was genuinely good. The demand signal for Battlefront 3 is real and measurable. The trust signal is what the next developer has to rebuild.

Any credible Battlefront 3 announcement will have to answer the monetization question on day one. A DICE-led project carries that answer as institutional memory; a new studio would carry it as a promise. Which of those the audience believes is a real difference in the game’s commercial prospects.

What this means for you

If you’re a Battlefront fan: the signal is real but early. Lucasfilm actively shopping for a partner is further than this conversation has gone in years — but “talks about a partner” is not “a game is coming.” Expect years, not months, and expect the monetization plan to be the first battleground.

If you follow the business of games: the rumor is a window into Lucasfilm Games’ post-exclusivity strategy. Since the EA exclusivity ended, Lucasfilm has spread Star Wars across studios (Ubisoft’s Outlaws, Respawn’s Jedi, now potentially a competitive bid for Battlefront). Battlefront 3 becoming a shootout between studios is the model working as designed.

If you’re tracking Bungie: the Bungie mention is a better indicator of Bungie’s perceived instability than of Battlefront 3’s reality. When your name surfaces as the studio Lucasfilm might rescue from someone else’s project, the market is telling you your own pipeline is the story. Marathon’s trajectory and the Destiny transition are the things to watch.

What to watch next: whether Grubb or another established reporter corroborates the shopping claim; whether Brammer’s DICE-and-Respawn version gets any second source; and — the real tell — whether Lucasfilm or EA says anything at all. Silence from both is the baseline. Any on-the-record comment is the story.

Related reading: PS6 Price in the Memory Crisis: What $1,000 Consoles Mean for Gamers · Game Pass Loses 8 Games on Oct 31: Which Are Worth Your Time

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Shoaib Hassan

Shoaib Hassan is the founder and editor of AuTechWire, an independent technology publication covering broadband, mobile networks, privacy, startups, and consumer tech.

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