Star Wars: Battlefront Won't "Feel Like or Play Like" Battlefield, Producer Says

Following the official announcement of DICE's Star Wars: Battlefront shooter last week, some gamers have begun voicing their concerns that it's nothing more than a "re-skin" of the Swedish developer's most famous franchise, Battlefield. Now, one DICE producer has spoken out to challenge that assertion.

Jesper Nielsen, an assistant producer at the DICE support studio Uprise who uses the handle "TheBikingViking" on Reddit, responded to a fan's concerns by promising that, while Battlefield and Battlefield share some shooter similarities, they will play quite differently.

"I simply don't get the Battlefield re-skin comment," he said. "From what we've shown, in what way does it look like Battlefield? Are you seeing tanks, lots of destruction, etc? This will not feel like or play like Battlefield. That's never been our intention."

"To some extent, all shooters are similar," he added. "Heck, to some extent, all games are similar. To my mom, all games are probably more or less the same, right? So it always depends on the person looking at it. I'm pretty sure a hardcore Counter-Strike player would say the differences between Counter-Strike and Battlefield or Halo or Call of Duty are like day and night. It's always about the lens you use, how far you zoom in. To some people, the details matter less--to others they matter more."

Nielsen's comments follow those from DICE producer Patrick Bach, who earlier this week listed off the reasons why Battlefront is so much more than a big-budget Battlefield mod.

Nielsen has kept busy responding to all manner of comments, some negative, about Battlefront. Another topic he addressed was the fact that the game will not have space battles (though it will have air combat). He pointed out that DICE is "still discussing" space battles from time to time, and explained that the developer understands that this game mode would have "some very exciting prospects."

"So of course that would be fun to explore! When and if that will happen is impossible for me to say, but no, we're not saying that space battles are evil and that we will never, ever touch them with a ten-foot pole," Nielsen said.

In addition, Nielsen provided a brief explanation for why the massive AT-AT vehicles won't be drivable in Battlefront. He said there were many factors that made up this decision, though he wasn't personally involved in making the call.

"There's a lot of things going into a decision like this," he explained. "Again, this wasn't my decision and I wasn't involved in it, so I don't want to make statements, but rest assured that these things are often not obvious yes/no decisions, but have a lot of pros and cons and have included lots of experimentation."

Battlefront launches for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 17. People who pre-order the game will receive the Battle of Jakku expansion on December 1, while everyone else will get this free content a week later on December 8.

For more, check out GameSpot's previous Battlefront coverage:

• Star Wars: Battlefront Aiming for 60fps, Will Have Destruction Where Appropriate
• Star Wars: Battlefront Dev -- We're Not Delaying Content for DLC
• Star Wars Celebration Photo Gallery
• Star Wars: Battlefront Won't Use Battlefield's Battlog System
• Star Wars: Battlefront -- Everything You Need to Know
• Watch Star Wars: Battlefront's Impressive Full-Length Trailer
• The Cautious Return of Star Wars: Battlefront