Electronic Arts has announced that the recent Star Wars Battlefront beta for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One was the biggest in the publishing giant’s history, with 9.5 million gamers flocking to the multiplayer-based teaser.
Posting on its official blog, EA confirmed a number of stats on the beta, including the fact games logged 1.6 billion minutes of playtime; that’s enough to watch the original Star Wars trilogy 4.2 million times, just so you know. Furthermore, it was revealed that Darth Vader spawned more times than his Hero counterpart, Luke Skywalker, with the Sith Lord showing up 5,938,148 times in comparison to the young Jedi’s 5,904,806 times. Clearly, players couldn’t get enough of Vader’s Force-induced powers, with 1,379,319 Force Choke kills logged.
Elsewhere, gamers scored 293 million E-11 Blaster kills and destroyed 783,392 Walkers during the assault on Hoth. In terms of unlocks, six million players managed to obtain the Jump Pack, with the Cycler Rifle topping the Star Card usage stats at an eye-watering 903,746,966.
Published by Electronic Arts, Star Wars Battlefront is scheduled for a November 17 release in the U.S. and November 20 in Europe. Unsurprisingly, the game’s launch is in close proximity to the release of the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which opens in cinemas in December 2015. Battlefront is powered by the Frostbite 3.0 engine, and is positioned as a reboot of the celebrated franchise following an unsuccessful attempt to develop Star Wars Battlefront 3 during the previous console generation. The current build of the title is reported to run at 900p on PS4 and 720p on Xbox One.
Star Wars Battlefront is a multiplayer-focused title and as such will not implement a single-player campaign, with players able to compete in massive online battles for up to 40 participants. Battlefront will allow gamers to switch between a first and third-person perspective as they see fit, as you wage war as either a Rebel or Imperial Stormtrooper across several iconic Star Wars locations including Hoth, Endor, Tatooine and Jakku. DICE recently confirmed a slew of new content for Battlefront, including Hero units such as Han Solo and Leia, plus three new game modes.