Electronic Arts announced the development of Star Wars Battlefront II on the 10th of May 2016. The game received a worldwide release date of the 17th of November 2017 confirmed during Star Wars Celebration in April 2017.
Motive Studios handled the single-player campaign while DICE led the overall project and Criterion Games managed starfighter mechanics. Executive producer Matthew Webster oversaw the development alongside creative director Bernd Diemer who replaced the paid Season Pass system from the 2015 predecessor.
EA disabled microtransactions entirely on the day before release citing player concerns about unfair advantages. This decision followed massive criticism including a Reddit comment that became the most downvoted comment in site history with a score exceeding minus six hundred sixty thousand.
By December 2017 the game had sold nine million copies worldwide though EA announced January 2018 that they missed their target of ten million sales. Electronic Arts lost three billion dollars in stock value following the launch due to the loot crate controversy.
Final updates ended the 29th of April 2020 after Electronic Arts concluded the game reached desired player numbers. The Celebration Edition containing all cosmetic options released the 5th of December 2019 prior to this conclusion.