For the single-player campaign of Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017), Lucasfilm was not simply a final checkpoint, according to game director Mark Thompson. In a November 2017 interview, he described a shared creative process: Lucasfilm helped Motive keep new details coherent with Star Wars lore and style, while both teams worked to give the game its own narrative voice.
What Thompson said the partnership was for
Thompson spoke with GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb by phone for an interview published November 25, 2017, and updated June 20, 2025. He described Lucasfilm’s Story Group as people who were both fans and experienced storytellers, and said the teams shared a vocabulary for building a game and its story.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Star Wars Battlefront II - PlayStation 4 | $21.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Star Wars Battlefront II - PlayStation 4 (Renewed) | $14.17 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Star Wars Battlefront II - PlayStation 4 | $26.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
![Star Wars Battlefront II - Xbox One [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61BnUSDA4rL._SL160_.jpg)
|
Star Wars Battlefront II - Xbox One [Digital Code] | $19.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
Star Wars Battlefront II - Xbox One | $35.00 | Buy on Amazon |
“We speak the same language when we talk about building a game and building the story for a game.”
His account framed the relationship as creative collaboration rather than a rights holder simply approving a finished script. The central challenge was to make the campaign feel recognizably part of Star Wars without retelling something the films, comics, or other stories had already done.
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
- A new hero, a story untold in an emotionally gripping new Star Wars campaign that spans over 30 years
- The ultimate battleground
- Galactic scale space combat: Space combat has been designed for Star Wars Battlefront II from the ground up with distinct handling, weapons and customization options
- Battery: No battery used
Keeping the story coherent without making it derivative
Thompson said early conversations focused on the campaign’s “voice”: why this should be a Star Wars story, what it could add, and how it could differ from existing stories. Lucasfilm wanted the franchise’s many parts to remain consistent, he said, while also allowing each to contribute something distinct.
“They want all of these different pieces of Star Wars to be consistent and coherent. But they also want each of these things to have its own voice, to contribute and do something different, to expand the universe.”
Rank #2
SaleStar Wars Battlefront II - PlayStation 4 (Renewed)
- A New Hero, a Story Untold- In an emotionally gripping new Star Wars campaign that spans over 30 years
- The Ultimate Battleground
- Galactic-Scale Space Combat-Space combat has been designed for Star Wars Battlefront II from the ground up with distinct handling, weapons and customization options
- Battery: no battery used
That balance shaped the campaign’s point of view. Motive and Lucasfilm’s Story Group developed the premise together: tell a story from the Imperial side, centered on a soldier rather than making the player follow the familiar Rebel perspective. Thompson said the idea of Iden Versio, raised in an Imperial military family, gave the team a concrete lens for making creative decisions.
How Lucasfilm helped with lore and design details
Thompson recalled that the teams were in contact about some issue “probably every day”—his recollection, not a measured production schedule. The questions could be very specific: how a blaster should sound, how a droid’s energy systems might work, or what a light, button, or lens on a newly designed droid was for.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Rank #3
- The reboot of the Battlefront series returns with a new character class system and a single-player campaign in Star Wars: Battlefront II. Solo gamers join the Galactic Empire as Iden Versio, commander of an Imperial special forces unit known as Inferno Squad.
- Beginning after the explosion of Death Star II, players embark on a 30-year campaign in which they interact with iconic Star Wars characters and fight to suppress the rebellion in battles on land and in space, while multiplayer fans pick from four classes, head to iconic locations, and compete in a variety of modes.
- Gamers choose from Assault, Heavy, Specialist, or Support classes and then switch between first-person and third-person perspectives as they fight across worlds like Endor, Jakku, Naboo, and Yavine 4, either on foot, or aboard vehicles like speeder bikes, snowspeeders, and AT-ATs.
- Multiplayer modes include the objective-based scenarios of Strike, Galactic Assault, and Starfighter Assault, the close-quarters combat of Blast, and four-on-four battles in Heroes vs. Villains mode.
- This Game is a Region Free PAL Game Imported from the UK. Works on all PS4 consoles You may need to create a free European PSN (Playstation Network) account for DLCs and extra contents and for online play.
He described Lucasfilm as checking its archives to help Motive ground new material in the franchise’s established aesthetic and lore. The point was not to make every design detail a plot point, but to make the world feel as if its technology and visual language belonged in Star Wars.
“We want to make sure we have the right information so when we’re developing features, it’s based on the kind of movie science of Star Wars.”
Rank #4
SaleStar Wars Battlefront II - Xbox One [Digital Code]
- A New Hero, a Story Untold- In an emotionally gripping new Star Wars campaign that spans over 30 years.
- The Ultimate Battleground
- Galactic-Scale Space Combat-Space combat has been designed for Star Wars Battlefront II from the ground up with distinct handling, weapons and customization options.
Thompson also said Motive developers chose to read newer canon stories, including Aftermath, Twilight Company, and Shattered Empire. He stressed that Lucasfilm did not require a reading list. The team brought forward ideas such as a messenger droid and Operation Cinder, then worked with Lucasfilm to connect them naturally to the campaign.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who Iden Versio was, and where the campaign fit
Iden Versio is the Imperial special-forces commander at the center of the campaign, and Inferno Squad is her unit. The story takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, a period in which the Empire’s defeat and the First Order’s eventual rise frame a less familiar part of the saga.
Best Value
- The reboot of the Battlefront series returns with a new character class system and a single-player campaign in Star Wars: Battlefront II. Solo gamers join the Galactic Empire as Iden Versio, commander of an Imperial special forces unit known as Inferno Squad.
- Beginning after the explosion of Death Star II, players embark on a 30-year campaign in which they interact with iconic Star Wars characters and fight to suppress the rebellion in battles on land and in space, while multiplayer fans pick from four classes, head to iconic locations, and compete in a variety of modes.
- Gamers choose from Assault, Heavy, Specialist, or Support classes and then switch between first-person and third-person perspectives as they fight across worlds like Endor, Jakku, Naboo, and Yavine 4, either on foot, or aboard vehicles like speeder bikes, snowspeeders, and AT-ATs.
- Multiplayer modes include the objective-based scenarios of Strike, Galactic Assault, and Starfighter Assault, the close-quarters combat of Blast, and four-on-four battles in Heroes vs. Villains mode.
EA’s 2017 announcement described the campaign as spanning the period after the destruction of the second Death Star toward the rise of the First Order, and said it would introduce Iden and Inferno Squad. The game was announced for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Origin for PC, with a worldwide release date of November 17, 2017; those are historical announcement details, not confirmation of present-day store availability.
StarWars.com’s production retrospective corroborates the collaborative origin of the Imperial-perspective pitch. It reports that Lucasfilm Story Group members were involved throughout production and attended shoots; Doug Chiang advised on Inferno Squad armor, and Dave Filoni discussed how an Imperial special-forces unit could serve the narrative. Janina Gavankar voiced and performed Iden through motion capture. A contemporaneous PlayStation.Blog interview likewise identifies Thompson as Motive’s director and Steve Blank as a Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive.
What the interview does—and does not—establish
Thompson acknowledged that creative disagreements happened, calling the process messy, but characterized them as constructive discussions that returned to the story the team wanted to tell. His remarks explain how this particular campaign’s development was described in 2017; they should not be read as a statement of current EA or Lucasfilm production practice.
The clearest takeaway is that Lucasfilm’s role, in Thompson’s account, combined continuity guidance with collaborative story development. Motive brought a distinct premise and design ideas; Lucasfilm helped test whether those choices fit the wider setting and its established feel.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Quick Recap
Sources
- GamesBeat: Mark Thompson interview (Jeff Grubb; published November 25, 2017, updated June 20, 2025).
- StarWars.com: The making of Star Wars: Battlefront II.
- PlayStation.Blog: Battlefront II story interview.
- EA: Star Wars Battlefront II announcement (April 15, 2017).
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
