EA Will Give Star Wars: Battlefront a Battlefield-Sized Push

During this week's Electronic Arts earnings call, CFO Blake Jorgensen talked more about the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront game, which is in development at Battlefield series studio DICE.

Jorgensen confirmed that the shooter is due to launch before Christmas 2015. More specifically, the game aims to be "aligned with" Star Wars Episode VII -- The Force Awakens, which arrives on December 18, he said.

DICE's new Star Wars: Battlefront is not directly based on the upcoming movie from J.J. Abrams, though it will share some general universe themes, characters, and items. In previous teaser trailers and images, DICE has revealed that the game will take players to locations such as Hoth and Endor, and feature vehicles such as AT-ATs and speeder bikes, among other things.

About the game in general, Jorgensen said DICE will share more about the project in the coming months. He went on to say that Battlefront's launch this year will be a "very large activity" for EA overall, on level with the company's blockbuster Battlefield series.

"We're extremely excited about that," Jorgensen said about Battlefront. "We think there's huge potential for that title. More to come in the next couple of months on that as more about the movie comes out as well as more about our title comes out. You should consider that a very large activity for us [this year] and a very large focus--similar to how we've thought about Battlefields in the past."

Battlefront is not the only new Star Wars game EA is currently working on. The developer's Visceral Games studio is also producing an entry in the series, rumored to be an open-world game. EA has even hired longtime Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig to work on the title.

EA and Star Wars franchise owner Disney signed a ten-year, multi-title deal in 2013 that makes the Mass Effect publisher the exclusive creator of new Star Wars games.