Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection could be the worst PC and Console release of 2024

It sounded like a slam dunk, taking the beloved multiplayer game series from 2004 and 2005 and bringing it back online in remastered form with support for modern PC hardware and consoles.

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Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection's launch has been a complete mess.

Not to be confused with EA and DICE's recent reboot, the original Star Wars Battlefront (2004) and Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) took iconic settings from the original and prequel trilogies and gave them a massively multiplayer Battlefield-style makeover. Although fans have kept these games alive on PC with mods and private servers, they were primed and ready for a comeback.

When news dropped that Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games were releasing a remastered Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection on March 14, 2024 - with support for up to 64 players - many gamers got their nostalgia glasses ready for a fun trip down memory lane. Except it was anything but.

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Server issues, crashing, the unsanctioned use of mods, poor performance, and poor optimization have led to it receiving the dreaded "Overwhelmingly Negative" user review rating on Steam. Only 19% of the 5,867 reviews are positive.

Day one was a complete mess, with only a handful of servers online, meaning that multiplayer could only accommodate a few hundred out of 10,000 concurrent players. Ouch. On top of that, the release requires 70GB of storage even though the originals weigh in at a fraction of this, and the collection presents these titles mostly as-is-albeit in widescreen and higher res.

And to add fuel to the fire, after Aspyr said the game wouldn't feature player-created mods without express consent, the game does - with the game launching on PC and console with player-created mods without crediting modders. Double ouch. And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, some players have been reporting maps using the wrong textures on objects and the environment. Plus, some bugs that have been in the game for decades that players have been vocal about are still in the game.

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It's so bad that developer Aspyr released a statement (which is now offline). However, a very brief one that claimed the lack of servers on day one came down to them simply not appearing on the server list. For... reasons. Aspyr is "working to address these issues and increase network stability, and we will continue our efforts until our network infrastructure is stabilized to prevent further outages."

The Star Wars Battlefront games are classics, beloved, and deserve much better. Steam user 'wendath' sums it up perfectly in their negative review.

"Aspyr somehow managed to release an unfinished version of a finished game."

This isn't the first time Aspyr has messed up a Star Wars re-release, with the developer promising to restore cut content in its Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II release. It didn't.

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