Although not yet officially announced, evidence is mounting for PlayStation VR content coming to Star Wars Battlefront II.

Last month we reported on tweets by Alex Mole, CTO of EA’s Criterion, the studio which developed the well regarded Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission for PSVR which was released as a piece of DLC for the original game. The tweets seemed to suggest—but didn’t confirm—that Criterion is building additional PSVR content to accompany Battlefront II.

Photo courtesy Bombshell

It would seem the evidence is mounting. According to a Danish user of the web forum NeoGAF, a recent PlayStation newsletter included a thumbnail for a story related to Battlefront II which showed the ‘PlayStation VR Compatible’ logo overlaid on top of it. Another member of the forum confirmed the same for a German version of the newsletter.

Developed by EA DICE, Star Wars Battlefront was released in 2015 while the Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission DLC for PSVR, developed by EA Criterion, was launched more than a year later in 2016, largely due to the fact that PSVR itself didn’t launch until late 2016. This time around, it sounds like a PSVR component is being considered from the start, which means the PSVR part of the game may be more substantial than the Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission which was well regarded but criticized for its short length as just one self-contained mission.

Star Wars Battlefront II | Photo courtesy EA DICE

Given the FPS nature of the game, it’s unlikely that the entirety of the game will be compatible with PlayStation VR; many are hoping that Battlefront II will include a multiplayer mode that would be fully compatible with PSVR where players battle in Star Wars spacecraft, though at this stage it’s unclear what Criterion may have planned.

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Either way, Star Wars Battlefront II launches on November 17th, and if it’s to come out the gate with PSVR content, we could get an announcement as early as next month at E3 2017.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Sunny Viji

    i hope there will be a FPS component, world war toons/rigs say fps can be done, and sone good, both these games gave me motion sickness within secs of playing them both, but after a week of getting my vr legs, i went back to both and didnt feel motion sickness and could play for a lot longer built up from 15 mins to 30 min play times, now can play as long as i want, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsqFZlZVFMw though not play rigs as no one online,

    • J.C.

      Aaaand why do you think no one plays RIGS? It’s got the visual anchor of a cockpit, and yet still it can cause motion sickness. Removing that anchor makes it so, so much worse for those who can’t turn off what their inner ear is telling them. You won’t find a single AAA developer willing to plunge head first into a playstyle that requires aclimation to avoid being sick.

      I doubt it’ll be anything other than a cockpit shooter, maybe one or two maps dedicated to it unless it allows non-VR players to join. Allowing non-VR players to join would raise playercount significantly, but also would give fuel to the “VR is unnecessary!” camp. Still, having that on the game case will drive curiosity in those who haven’t quite decided to pick up a headset.

      • Cap

        “You won’t find a single AAA developer willing to plunge head first into a playstyle that requires aclimation to avoid being sick.”

        -Resident evil 7 & Farpoint

        • J.C.

          Yeah, I knew someone would bring up re7. You move very slowly in it, which lowers the risk of motion sickness. I don’t know if Farpoint moves quickly or not, nor have I looked into whether or not you could consider it a AAA release. I’m betting it doesn’t have you sprinting around at anything near battlefront speeds. But I could be wrong! Reviews aren’t out yet, so we’ll have to wait a week or so to truly know.

          If the next COD had VR, it’d sell a TON of headsets, and there’d also be a flood of reports of it making people sick, because it moves way too fast to be comfortable in VR. Someone who hasn’t or can’t aclimate, picks it up and is horridly sick for the rest of the day. Do you think they’re going to try again? Do you think they’ll tell their friends how cool it was, or how sick they got? I’m sure it would make it onto the evening news, which thrives on scaring people. “New gaming device may make your child sick!”.

          That’s what the VR dev community is worried about. A media frenzy that kills public interest in VR before it has a chance to get off the ground. They know there are people who don’t get sick from ANY wild movement in VR. Those people absolutely DO NOT MATTER AT ALL if there’s a reasonable chunk of people who WILL get sick from it. I don’t understand why you don’t understand this, but clearly you don’t have a billion dollars invested in the technology. You might be more concerned if you had any skin in the game.

        • Andy

          And Bethesda and Ubisoft.

      • Rothgarr

        Anything with a cockpit and I’m fine with. But I immediately felt nauseous playing RE7 — until I figured out I have to play standing up — then I just turn 360 degrees, basically turn my head and actually face the direction I want to go and all my sick ness went away. After that I was able to play through the entire RE7 campaign, sometimes hours at a time — with no sickness, I recommend this method to anyone with similar symptoms.

  • ITALI-LORI-MONTI

    io prendo questo gioco solo se compattibile al 50% con ps VR !!!

  • Chris Hood

    I think this is really the only way for them to go. Flight and space will have a much bigger impact than another jedi story converted to VR. – vearcade.com