Ever since Disney bought the rights to "Star Wars" from George Lucas, the company has re-arranged what can be considered canonical and what can't. The films are canon and so are "The Clone Wars" and the "Rebels" TV series, but all of the past books and video games are not and are now considered "Legends." Their new video game, "Star Wars: Battlefront," sits somewhere in between as developer DICE confirms that the game's canon is "complicated."
According to a report by IGN, "Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company," a novel inspired by the "Battlefront" games, will be considered canonical to the films. The video game, however, is a more complicated story.
Patrick Bach, general manager of "Battlefront" developer DICE, sat down with IGN and stated, "Canon is connected often to story. Is every battle you play out canon, or is this specific item canon? I can't give you a clear answer on canon."
The report explains that the video game is mostly concerned with the events of the original trilogy. This means players would be able to participate in the Battle of Hoth seen in "The Empire Strikes Back" and the Battle at Moon of Endor in "Return of the Jedi."
However, the game also gives more leeway in what and what may not happen in each battle. The Battle of Jakku is supposed to occur after the events of "Return of the Jedi" but players can still play as Darth Vader during the sequence, which, if taken canonically, should not happen since Vader was dead by then.
Scenarios are based on canon material and so are the items, characters, vehicles, and others like the locations. Sullest, for example, is a new planet created for "Battlefront" and was approved by LucasFilm and Disney so it is the canonical version of the planet and it will be for future "Star Wars" materials.
However, the game still gives players the freedom to mess around with things.
The films did not show TIE fighters fighting X-Wing Fighters over the sand dunes of Tatooine and they did not show Bobba Fett fighting at the Battle of Hoth, but players are free to do so as they please, creating alternate scenarios that would not work with the canon of the films.
