Criterion Games, the EA studio that developed the PSVR-exclusive Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: VR Mission, could be working on new VR experiences for the upcoming Battlefront II.

EA today announced Star Wars Battlefront II, a followup to 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront reboot. The game’s reveal trailer suggests a full single-player campaign this time around, as well as the large scale multiplayer action that the franchise is known for, this time spanning many Star Wars eras:

In December, EA launched the PSVR-exclusive Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: VR Mission, a free DLC add-on to the game which brought a short but polished demo that would be the first taste of VR to be released by EA. Developed by child-studio Criterion Games, the Rogue One: VR Mission was built on EA’s powerful Frostbyte engine which has been adapted for VR support, something which we guessed would lay the groundwork for more VR content to come from the company.

Now it seems Battlefront II could get some VR content of its own. In the context of prompting job openings at the studio, Criterion CTO Alex Mole recently tweeted that the studio is actively working on a project for Battlefront II, which was subsequently retweeted by the official Criterion Games Twitter account.

We wouldn’t necessarily say that’s conclusive evidence of a Battlefront II VR Mission in the works, but it does seem to point in that direction. Such an experience seems a little more likely too thanks to the positive reception to the first Battlefront VR Mission which currently holds a 4 out of 5 star rating on the PlayStation Store.

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Among those job openings at Criterion which Mole is alluding to, all of them mention in the introduction that Criterion was the studio behind the Battlefront VR Mission, while the Environment Artist listing specifically seeks someone with “experience developing for VR.”

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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."
  • Raphael

    6 minutes of vr content.

    • iUserProfile

      6 minutes of bliss.

      • Raphael

        Yoi would actually pay for 6 minutes of vr content wooden u.

    • Lucidfeuer

      If it’s cheap or for free, I’d rather have 6 minutes of intense, very well produced VR content.

      In fact, shortly after I tried my DK1, I started to hate what makes video-games video-games: those amazing artistic direction, cinematography, narrative, level/character design…moments undercut by very limited, archaïc, repetitive and straight-up stupid hours and hours of gameplay. Walk, jump, take, shoot, take, shoot, walk, crouch, shoot, take, jump, walk…

      Millions worth of productions and time goes into making these huge redundant and simplistic assets and game mechanics, instead of going into interactional, narrative, landscape or mechanic design. In fact the point of VR is that it brings us closer to what cinema always touched on way better than video games ever did, but that VR is enabling us to do in an interactive way: you don’t wake up a morning and go straight through your door to shoot at things that haven’t asked anything. You do mundane things like wake up, pull out your sheets, look at the weather through the window, put on the radio while making a coffee, take a shower while wondering about your day etc…except cinema has always been great at making these mundane things interesting, narratively interactive and picturesque.

      My point is that VR should be the end of video-games as we know it, and I’d rather have immersive uncut games that last the same maximum duration as a movie ie. 90/120minutes with a way more artistically, precisely and interactively crafted game, than 10 hours of the same graphics, levels, gameplay, characters etc…

      • Sebastien Mathieu

        Man…i so much agree!! thanks!

      • Sebastien Mathieu

        Man…i so much agree!! thanks!

  • Maxime Pare

    we should all spam his twitter account about this PS4 exclusivity shit…Bring the game to PC as well

    • LaRocky

      Fingers crossed. The problem is they would have to tie Origin to either SteamVR or Oculus Home, or completely develop their own VR stack. I just don’t see them doing it, which sucks. Maybe that will change once the MS headsets come out and they just the VR API that will be included with Win10.

  • rovgo

    At the Battlefront II panel of the Star Wars celebration it was mentioned that Criterion was doing the space combat parts of the game, so while it is certainly possible that some or all of those are playable in VR, I wouldn’t take Criterion’s involvement as an indication for this.

  • Dancey Steve

    We need a full title of Star Wars Battlefront VR,as the first mission was so good,and fulfilled many childhood fantasy with the Xwing, but was woefully short to finish. I’d like first person VR lightsabre duals please…

      • Dancey Steve

        That’s cool n all that,but I meant PlayStation VR,don’t have a vive or rift

        • Ellie 187

          How would the PSVR handle room scale ? The move controllers are not exactly able to perform to 1:1 movement ratio like Vive/Rift does in the Star Wars Trials on Tatooine demo…. Sony would have to release all new tracking hardware to accomplish it…unless playing with a light sabre with a gamepad, I can’t see that as being very immersive.

  • Antonio Vacos

    For more information follow the link

  • Yeah, too bad they are selling out to Sony and their crappy PSVR instead developing it for PC.

    • Dancey Steve

      PSVR isnt crappy at all.The new aim controller is top notch too. I dont care if you say vive or rift are better either,and highlight specs to me,as its still awesome for people to jump straight in.

  • I like it very much to me the game is very nice to hope everyone likes.