Star Wars Battlefront 3 fan remake coming to Steam for free

Frontwire, the developer of the fan-made game based on the canned Star Wars: Battlefront 3, has announced that Valve has agreed to host the title on Steam. The title has been developed as an unofficial sequel in the Battlefront series, based on Free Radical's Battlefront 3 that was reportedly 99% finished before Lucasarts terminated the project.

"It is with great pleasure that as of today I am able to officially announce that Frontwire Studios has officially signed a distribution deal with Steam/Valve for the game Galaxy in Turmoil," Frontwire Studios president Tony 'Fergie' Romanelli said in a blog post. "After ongoing discussion between Valve Representatives and myself, Valve/Steam has agreed to ship Galaxy in Turmoil to its millions of users for free."

Despite initial concerns that a Steam release would not be possible due to its use of the Star Wars IP, the developer says Valve's decision to host the game is a validating step forward for the studio, the project and its fans.

"By Steam agreeing to ship Galaxy in Turmoil we are not only adding more validation and awareness to the project by opening up the game to a whole new audience, we're also cementing Frontwire Studios' reputation as an up and coming developer with the opportunity to now publish our games on Steam in the future," Romanelli said. "This will help us ultimately achieve our goal of making the games that you, the community want."

Starting off as a CryEngine mod developed by a group of avid Battlefront fans, Galaxy in Turmoil has evolved into a full-fledged project running on Unreal Engine 4. The group also formed its own development studio that now has 50 team members and is now working on a mobile game and an unannounced AAA title in addition to Galaxy in Turmoil, according to the company's website.

Although the game has received the go-ahead from Valve, it does not have official permission from Disney which could lead to the game being shut down, which has been the case with most previous fan-made remakes.

However, Romanelli says Disney has not pursued any legal action so far. He also notes that both Valve and Frontwire's legal teams are not worried about running into any legal issues.

"People have been expressed their concern as of late, saying they expect us to get a Cease & Desist from Disney," Romanelli said. "I'll be honest – I've had mild concerns myself from time to time. However Valve clearly lacks that same concern. By agreeing to publish Galaxy in Turmoil, Valve is assisting us in growing and ensuring the longevity of the Galaxy in Turmoil project and community as a whole."

"I encourage everyone, including those that doubt we'll be able to pull this off, to take a page from Valve's book. Take a deep breath and just take a chance on our project. In the end, it'll pay off for everyone involved."

Romanelli told Polygon that the upcoming game will feature a single-player campaign as well as multiplayer modes including "Conquest, Instant Action and ground-to-space combat."

He also shared an image of Galaxy in Turmoil's page on Steam. However, it has not gone live on the platform yet. A release date for the game has not been announced either.

In May, publisher EA revealed plans to release an official sequel to DICE's Star Wars Battlefront next year during an investor call. The company reported that last year's reboot of the popular series, released in November 2015, sold 14 million units by the end of fiscal year 2016 on 31 March.