Yesterday, EA commented on Battlefront II’s loot box system, stating that the reason it hasn’t stuck solely to cosmetics is to abide by the current Disney canon of the Star Wars universe. It seems that this wasn’t always an issue, however, as dataminers have uncovered deeper character customisation within the game’s files.
This information comes from Redditor uninspired_zebra, who is known in the Battlefront community for delving into PC builds, uncovering much of which is no longer available in the current, public build. His latest datamine unveiled an unreachable menu that showcases a variety of customisation options in the form of skins, which contradicts a lot of what EA said regarding the matter.
“The one thing we’re very focused on and they are extremely focused on is not violating the canon of Star Wars,” says CFO Blake Jorgensen. “It’s an amazing brand that’s been built over many, many years, and so if you did a bunch of cosmetic things, you might start to violate the canon, right? Darth Vader in white probably doesn’t make sense, versus in black. Not to mention you probably don’t want Darth Vader in pink. No offense to pink, but I don’t think that’s right in the canon.”
The video shared by uninspired_zebra doesn’t showcase a pink Darth Vader, mind you, or any other variant of heroes that could potentially distort the true memory of the franchise, however it does give a look at various skins for assault classes across the six factions. Stranger yet, none of what was shown was completely out of canon, as all skins have been present within the Star Wars universe before and would make more sense than Rey fighting Darth Vader in the Cloning Facility on Kamino.
Even regarding Jedi and Sith heroes, alternate costumes is a possibility. Think Finn’s Stormtrooper costume minus the helmet, or dark Anakin Skywalker for an alternative Darth Vader, or perhaps Luke’s Tatooine gear, Hoth getup, Return of the Jedi clothing and even latest The Last Jedi costume.
Basically, the options are endless, so the reasoning does seem a little on the thin side. That being said, the relationship between EA and Disney, especially as the latter is so concerned over the release of its latest blockbuster is enough for the strictest of rulesets to be put in place.
KitGuru Says: Unfortunately, it’s entirely possible that this is an entirely abandoned system rather than one waiting to get released down the line. That being said, the future of Battlefront II post-launch for Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is in flux. What do you think about customisable skins for the game’s infantry?
So many possibilities, just think about the hero skins, Luke in IV, V (Hoth, Dagobah) VI, VII(I). I mean yes, there is no place for a pink Darth Vader but there are enough troopers, starfighters and heroes where many skins would be nice.