Summary

• Aspyr, the company responsible for remastering Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, has been working to resolve launch issues.
• They have added more servers, deployed patches to fix network infrastructure, reduce lag, crashes, and other errors.
• The game's reputation may already be too damaged for a full comeback despite improvements in playability.

The Aspyr offering refunds.

Not only did the Battlefront Classic Collection only launch with three multiplayer servers that each only allowed up to 64 players, which was nowhere near enough to handle the nearly 10,000 players keen to jump in and play with their friends, but it was also riddled with bugs on all platforms that impacted cutscenes and more. To make matters worse, the games' file size was 10 times larger than the originals, needing between 62.87 GB and 72.58 GB of storage compared to the originals' combined 7.3 GB. This led to accusations that Aspyr had not optimized the remastered titles. Screen Rant's own review of the game even addressed this, saying that the game suffered from "a rough start that not even nostalgia can mend."

Aspyr Has Been Working To Resolve Many Of The Launch's Issues

More Servers Have Been Added, And Patches Have Been Deployed Since Launch

Since then, Aspyr has added more servers - a fix that came very soon after launch - and followed it up with several patches to sort out the network infrastructure to reduce lag, crashes, and other errors players were experiencing when launching the game. While it can be argued that a game shouldn't be allowed to be released in such a state to begin with, each patch was substantial and addressed several issues, both big and small.

These updates even fixed some issues that existed in the original games. For example, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 had an issue in its Death Star map where both Republic and Rebel factions lost two reinforcements instead of one every time one of them died, which PC players had used mods to fix over the past 19 years, but the fact that Aspyr finally officially resolved this across PC and consoles came as a pleasant surprise.

As of June 2024, Aspyr has released three major updates for the game, with several platform-specific fixes. The latest update launched on June 20 and while it included fewer changes on consoles, the Steam version has received plenty of fixes. The full list of fixes in Update 3 is displayed below, but notably, it includes fixes for issues where visuals, textures, and objectives were not displaying properly. It also resolved an issue for those on Valve's handheld device, the Steam Deck, who previously could not see button prompts.

All Platforms

• Made improvements to server stability
• Fixed an issue where a loud sound would occasionally play during matches
• Fixed various issues with the game crashing unexpectedly
• Fixed several bugs regarding UI and text
• Fixed an issue in splitscreen where first-person zoom had a distortion effect applied to one player
• Fixed several graphical issues across both games
• Fixed an issue where players could not spawn with award weapons and bonuses after reaching Legendary rank on the associated medal
• Fixed an issue where Award weapons and bonuses could be unlocked prior to reaching the required Veteran rank
• Fixed an issue where L3 and R3 would not be swapped after enabling the "Swap LS and RS" option
• Fixed an issue where Custom Campaign options could not be changed in split screen conquest mode
• Fixed an issue where the movie cutscenes would sometimes stutter
• [BF1] Fixed an issue where the Look Sensitivity option would continue to apply to the right analog stick after enabling the "Swap LS & RS" option
• [BF1] Fixed an issue where the AT-ST loadout would fail to spawn on the Tatooine: Mos Eisley map
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the same 501st video journal would play at the beginning and end of missions
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where English voice lines would play after selecting a non-English language
• [BF2] Kill/Death Ratio now appears correctly on the ‘Career Stats’ screen
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the player's weapon/item swap animation would often play twice during multiplayer matches
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where units would become invisible after entering vehicles, starfighters, and turrets
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the entire screen is covered occasionally by an effect in hero assault
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where Kit Fisto could not perform their mid-air attack due to multiplayer lag
• [BF2] Fixed an issue during the Kashyyyk: First Line of Defense mission where the third objective would not complete when first entering the CIS capital ship hangar
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where Hero/Villain characters would occasionally appear to be floating above the ground
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where starfighters would pop-in while navigating capital ship hangars in multiplayer
• [BF2] Fixed a graphical issue with the Fusion Cutter's model when playing as the Republic
• [BF2] Fixed an issue with the UI for the AWARD Wrist Blaster only showing the ammo count
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where Hero/Villain voice lines would not play during multiplayer games
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the ground would flicker on the Mos Eisley map
• [BF2] Hero Assault settings are now accessible in the ‘Session Options’ menu
• [BF2] Fixed an issue with sensitivity being too slow on the right analog stick
• [BF2] Fixed an issue during the Utapau Sinkhole - Underground Ambush mission where the Anti-Craft turret would be clipping through the ground
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where debug text could appear during Galactic Conquest
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where command posts did not display red/blue light
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where Achievements/Trophy progress would become out of sync with in-game medal progression
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where medals could be earned multiple times in a single life
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where vehicles would be instantly destroyed when driven on top of a specific hill in Geonosis: Dust Plains
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where analog sensitivity would be too low while piloting vehicles, starfights, and turrets
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where Chewbacca's guided rocket would not fire in the Bespin Map
• [BF2] Fixed a graphical issue on Hoth where the snow would appear multi-colored
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where hit VFX and animations were occasionally not seen by clients in Hero Assault mode

Steam-Specific

• Fixed an issue where the Launch Menu would be stretched on ultra-wide monitors
• Fixed an issue where Xbox button prompts would appear with a PlayStation controller connected
• Fixed an issue where button prompts would not display on SteamDeck
• Fixed an issue where enabling Vsync would decrease mouse sensitivity
• Fixed an issue where a second controller would not for split screen
• [BF1] Fixed an issue where the crouch button would not always function
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where footstep sounds would rarely play while in third person
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the save prompt fails to display if the keyboard is used to select a save option after a mission in the Rise of the Empire campaign
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where the buy button could not be clicked in the Bonus menu for Galactic Conquest
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where mouse input would not interact with tutorial prompts in Galactic Conquest
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where headshots would not properly

Xbox-Specific

• Fixed an issue where a client was unable to a host's game after accepting an invitation via the Xbox

PlayStation-Specific

• Fixed an issue where the game would occasionally crash after loading into the Utapau map

Nintendo Switch-Specific

• [BF1] Fixed an issue where saves could not be made while playing split-screen Galactic Conquest
• [BF2] Fixed an issue where vibration fails to function while using a wired Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.

How Fixed Is The Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection?

There's Still Work To Be Done, But It's On The Right Track

With these updates, Star Wars: Battlefront's Classic Collection remaster is certainly in a far better state than it was at launch, but there's still more work to be done. While the game still has a "Mostly Negative" score on Steam, recent reviews are coming in as "Mixed," suggesting there are some happier players now than there were a few months ago.

For those on PC, one of the biggest takeaways from the recent reviews is that the game is dead on the platform, something that recent stats on SteamDb reflect, with only 29 players online at the time of writing and a 55-player peak in the last 24-hours, suggesting that the damage to the game has already been done, and it's unlikely it will claw its way back from its launch state on the platform. This is likely due to the fact that PC players can still easily access the original versions of the game, which are far more active.

For those on consoles, however, this is the only way to play the game for those on PlayStation and Nintendo, as PS4 and PS5 don't have the originals under their PS Classics, and the original games were never released on Nintendo's console at the time, the GameCube, so these new updates certainly make it a far more enjoyable way to play on those platforms. While the original games are available through Xbox's backwards compatibility scheme, its online servers shut down well over a decade ago, so while the Classic Collection is the only way to play online multiplayer on that platform, the updates have certainly made this better now.

To answer the overarching question of whether the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection has been "fixed," the answer is technically yes. Both games are currently in a playable state across all platforms, and playing them is generally a far better experience than it was a few months ago, even if there are the occasional minor bugs that may get patched out in a future update as Aspyr continues to be dedicated to getting it fully back on track. Unfortunately, as indicated by the state of the active players on Steam - console player information is less readily accessible - the damage to the remaster's reputation may already be too severe for it to make a full comeback.

Source: Aspyr