Why is everyone playing Star Wars Battlefront 2?

On Sunday, Star Wars Battlefront 2, a nearly eight-year-old game, hit a peak concurrent player count of more than 35,000 players on Steam. That’s just part of the story of renewed interest in Electronic Arts and DICE’s Star Wars shooter, which has become a must-play for fans of George Lucas’ space saga — and a rallying cry for Battlefront fans who are desperate for a Star Wars Battlefront 3.

How did Star Wars Battlefront 2 become a 2025 hit on Steam, some five years after its final update? You can thank a big year for Star Wars, led by the popularity of Andor and the return of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith to movie theaters for that film’s 20th anniversary, in part. Major Star Wars-themed events in Fortnite and mobile hit Monopoly Go may have also given Battlefront 2 a lift.

Renewed interest in Star Wars Battlefront 2 started to grow in early May, right around Star Wars Day (aka May the Fourth), which landed right in the middle of season 2 of Andor. Player counts quintupled, according to data from SteamCharts, as daily peak concurrents went from about a thousand players to 5,000.

Interest grew as Revenge of the Sith returned to movie theaters on May 19, and as longtime Battlefront 2 players rallied supporters to the cause. They wanted to break the game’s previous Steam concurrents record — 10,345 back in January 2021 — to hopefully capture the attention of publisher EA. Player counts crested as the makers of Kyber, a Battlefront 2 dedicated server and community mod manager service, recruited Star Wars fans for a “resurgence” event on May 24.

Interest begat interest, and as former Battlefront game developers began posting to social media to recognize the Battlefront 2 craze.

“As a former developer of SWBF2 it’s amazing to see old and new players check out the game,” wrote Manuel S. Llanes, design director on Battlefront 2 in a post on Reddit. “While us devs are a bit scattered across the galaxy I am sure I can speak for all the rebels and say that it means a lot.”

This weekend, Star Wars Battlefront 2 reached an all-time peak 35,321 on Steam. And according to research firm Circana, the game has appeared in the top 15 most-played PlayStation and Xbox games, based on player engagement, over the past month. A Death Star-sized discount from publisher EA (and the game’s availability on subscription service EA Play) probably helped; Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Celebration Edition is now just $3.99 on Steam, until July 10.

What’s more, Battlefront fans have a friend in multi-year NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, who streamed Battlefront 2 on Twitch this weekend. “I love this game,” Irving said. “I want them to make Battlefront 3 already, bro.”

Whether all of this interest will translate into a third Star Wars Battlefront from EA remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely to happen any time soon. EA and DICE are all-in on the next Battlefield game, and reportedly focusing on a small handful of franchises: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. That’s in addition to the already in-development Iron Man game at Motive, Respawn’s third Star Wars Jedi game, and the EA Sports lineup.

But maybe there’s a chance in the long run. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has evolved, after all, from a hated pay-to-win, microtransaction-infested pariah to a fondly remembered shooter. So anything is possible.