Star Wars Battlefront, the OG from 2004, has its multiplayer restored in sleeper update

So here’s the deal with Star Wars: Battlefront (2004): That game still rocks. It’s sixteen years old, has had numerous sequels, spin-offs and a reboot series yet nothing comes close to that original game. Sure, Battlefront II had playable Jedi and is probably an overall better-looking game but there’s nothing like that first Battlefront experience. I’ve still got so many memories of visiting friends and blasting them in split-screen multiplayer on a giant PS2 console. Star Wars: Battlefront was an influential game for loads of people, so hopping onto Steam this weekend to see that the game had quietly received an update was surprising. Yet what was even more surprising about the patch was what it contained: A rebirth of sorts.

Without fanfare nor any kind of official announcement, EA has patched the original Battlefront to include multiplayer once again. The game’s servers have been down since 2014 when Gamespy shut its doors for good. Both the Good Old Games and Steam version of Battlefront have had some kind of server reactivation because all the multiplayer modes are back and are as fun as they were back in the day. An added benefit is that the GoG and Steam version can play with one another through an enabled crossplay system, which is a neat little benefit.

Now, I have no idea how many people will actually be populating those servers in the year 2020 but considering how many people still prefer those original games to the newer versions developed by DICE and EA, I’d hazard a guess that there’ll definitely be enough fans trying to recapture the memories to make for some full games. Oh, and the game is currently on sale for R39.50 on Steam, which is weirdly more expensive than Battlefront II which is R27.50. I guess those servers take a little bit more cash to maintain.

Last Updated: May 4, 2020