A veteran Star Wars: Battlefront modder has dug further into the recently released Classic Collection and uncovered more evidence that the controversial release used their mod despite developer Aspyr promising it wouldn’t.
Last month, IGN reported on concern from the Star Wars: Battlefront community sparked by the Classic Collection’s debut trailer, which suggested the game used a mod that brought a previously Xbox-exclusive Battlefront 2 DLC to the PC original.
The original, Pandemic-developed Battlefront 2 that launched in 2005 had a DLC pack exclusive to the original Xbox version that added two new heroes (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress), as well as four maps. Both Kit and Asajj had unique animations and moves no other characters had.
In 2021, modder iamashaymin brought the DLC to PC, reskinning two existing characters to look like Kit and Asajj (Ki Adi Mundi for Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura for Asajj Ventress). In the mod, Asajj does not hold her unique Linksabers (fiber cord-linked twin red lightsabers added especially for her in the DLC) in one hand, but instead wields two separate lightsabers, one in each hand, like Aayla does in the original game. Similarly, Kit fights like Mundi.
At the time, developer Aspyr insisted the release of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection "does not include any code or content that is taken from uncredited sources", telling IGN it "mistakenly" included "content that is not in the product" after capturing placeholder footage for the trailer last fall.
However, following Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection’s catastrophic release, which has resulted in an ‘overwhelmingly negative’ user review rating on Steam, iamashaymin said there was evidence to suggest the game did indeed launch with their mod, or at least portions of their mod, before updates stripped them out, in a revelation that has sparked criticism of Aspyr. iamashaymin called it ‘a terrible gut punch.’
To back up this claim, here's a screenshot of that bubble effect taken in 2020 (It is hard to make out in the video since it is in motion, but trust that it is the same.) pic.twitter.com/PT1w0wNLzn
— iamashaymin (@iamashaymin) March 16, 2024
And now, Battlefront modders have dug into the Nintendo Switch version of the Classic Collection, which iamashaymin told IGN launched using “further modified versions of my mod’s heroes before being replaced again in a patch.” Aspyr has yet to respond to IGN's request for comment.
“We actually managed to dump, archive, and datamine this version of the build and can confirm some files are the same as my original mod, specifically regarding the heroes’ projectiles,” iamashaymin said.
“What’s odd about this is that they are using the right animations but the weapon’s data file, force bubble projectile, and player models for both Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress are from the PC mod,” iamashaymin continued.
“Some of the files were only modified in my mod slightly in order to work on PC but still differ from the official models in some noticeable ways and the force bubble effect is a completely different projectile I had to create myself.
“I’ve never had issues with them using my mod, but now that they responded by saying what they did, shipping these files in multiple versions of the game and not crediting the source is an issue. Not because I demand credit but just on the credibility of Aspyr. How can fans trust a company which doesn’t seem to value the fans' passion?”
Hot on the heels of Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, modders including iamashaymin set out to fix the game. Aspry has issued a statement addressing the botched launch, saying it had experienced “critical errors” with its network infrastructure. This resulted in “incredibly high” ping, matchmaking errors, crashes, and servers not appearing in the browser.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
