The makers of Star Wars Battlefront 2 will restore Emperor Palpatine to the game a little over a month after they removed him. That will cap several weeks of online discussion about how long an announced “hotfix” should take and just what a game studio and a fandom should do when the community manager is on vacation.

The Empire is without an emperor. Last week, a Star Wars Battlefront 2 update apparently brought back the evil Emperor Palpatine’s game-breaking ability to shoot lightning through walls. An emergency fix completely removed him from the game, and it’s unclear when he’ll return.

Yesterday, the official Battlefield Twitter account published something interesting - a promise that not only will the makers of the upcoming Battlefield 5 refrain from charging for extra maps, they're also going to avoid what has become the most toxic two-word phrase in gaming: Loot boxes.

Sometimes it's the little things that bug players. And sometimes those little things are worth fixing. That's the case with Battlefront II, a game with a playerbase that's been frustrated by microtransactions and a lack of new content but at least has had their call answered to get rid of the holograms in the game's menus.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is working to overcome its image problem following a controversial release. A new season of content, related to Han Solo, hit the game today. Its smattering of character skins and a map lifted from 2015's Star Wars Battlefront provide little for those hoping the game will bounce back from its rocky start.

Petri Levälahti, aka Berduu, is a screenshot artist whose images we've featured a bunch of times here. For the past year, though, his hobby has also been his profession.

Loot boxes in FIFA 18, Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are now illegal in Belgium, with the country's legislators declaring today that if the games' publishers don't remove the offending microtransactions, people behind the games could face fines and even time behind bars.

Star Wars Battlefront II stirred up controversy at launch with grindy progression systems and questionable loot boxes. Over the last six months, the game has added new modes and done its best to win back players. Here's where things stand today.

Star Wars Battlefront II's latest update brings microtransactions back to the game, allowing players to spend premium currency on cosmetic outfits. It's an improvement over the ability granting loot boxes from early access but pricey skins add an unwelcome new grind to a game.

Say what you will of its loot box struggles, Battlefront 2 was a good-looking game whose designs felt very Star Wars. So I thought today we'd take a look at a bunch of art that went into building those incredible worlds (and ships, and uniforms and space stations...).

Star Wars Battlefront 2's new update overhauls the game's loot box laden progression system. One of players' biggest complaints since before the game was even officially out was how hard it was to unlock iconic characters such as Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. A new patch finally unlocks every hero character in the game.

Months after removing controversial microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront 2, publisher EA today announced its plans to bring them back, this time tied only to cosmetics rather than gameplay.

Players who earn enough points during Star Wars: Battlefront 2 matches can play as a variety of special characters, from hi-tech Stormtroopers to the Emperor himself, but none are as deadly as the Wookiee Warrior. A new patch has nerfed these overpowered creatures and brought an end to their hairy reign of terror.

Remember Matt The Technician, Kylo Ren's run as an Undercover Boss on Saturday Night Live? It's in Battlefront II now.

Star Wars Battlefront II's latest DLC features an expanded story and new worlds from The Last Jedi. It does its best to reinvigorate the game, but it ultimately falls short.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 has received negative feedback ever since it was confirmed that its loot crates provided in-game advantages. Since then, the game has disabled the ability to purchase crates with real money. Now, players will also receive more in-game rewards.

The end of a match in multiplayer shooters is usually when players can look at stats and see how other people performed. In Star Wars Battlefront 2, many matches end with a single player receiving recognition over and over again.

There are two ways to unlock stuff in Battlefront II. You could pay for it, which sucks, or you could build a sense of pride and accomplishment by constructing a robot to grind progression for you.

When 2017's Star Wars Battlefront II was first previewed at E3 this year, people were cautiously optimistic. Its predecessor was slammed for being thin on content, but initial showings of the game looked promising and it seemed like EA had added the things fans wanted out of the game's sequel, like a single-player campaign.

Now, everything has turned to shit.