Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection allegedly used modder’s work without credit

The Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, a remaster of the classic multiplayer Star Wars shooters by Aspyr, has released to considerably negative reactions. At a presently “Overwhelmingly Negative” review average on Steam, players have cited audio and visual glitches and poor performance when playing online, among many other complaints. Now compounding these issues are allegations that fan-made mods have been used in the remaster by Aspyr without proper accreditation or compensation.

First spotted when the game’s initial reveal trailer was released, it seemed like the previously Xbox-exclusive DLC characters, Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress, were using animations from a mod created by a mod creator who goes by iamashaymin for the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 on PC. At the time, Aspyr responded to these allegations in a statement to IGN, advising that “when capturing placeholder footage for our announcement last fall, we mistakenly included content that is not in the product, and that mistake made it into the final cut. The upcoming release of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection does not include any code or content that is taken from uncredited sources.” The game has now released, and it does not seem that this content has been removed.

'The upcoming release of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection does not include any code or content that is taken from uncredited sources.'https://t.co/GjrJY2E0wM
I am not in the Credits @AspyrMedia

— iamashaymin (@iamashaymin) March 14, 2024

“This release has been a total mess,” iamashaymin told IGN after the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection came out. “The fact they had to release patches both before and immediately after releasing two decade old games really says it all. Especially considering part of the patches is rumoured to have removed content they had already said was removed months ago.“

“There’s not really anything else I can say that other players aren’t already screaming, it’s a terrible feeling getting very pumped for a game like this and it just missing the mark entirely. It’s a terrible gut punch.”

At present, both modders and Aspyr itself are working on fixing the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection following its catastrophic launch state. Aspyr has already acknowledged “critical errors” with the game’s network infrastructure, stating that it has “been working to address these issues and increase network stability“.

Aspyr, which specialises in video game remasters and has brought many classic Star Wars games to modern platforms, has already experienced its share of development hurdles and launch controversies. Its Nintendo Switch port of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II never received the promised Restored Content DLC. This left the game incomplete compared to the PC version. Furthermore, the remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic originally helmed by the company was trapped in development limbo and ended up getting passed on to Saber Interactive instead, a developer which has recently been sold by the Embracer Group.

Aspyr has yet to comment on iamashaymin’s work appearing to be left in the finished game. It will remain to be seen if the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection’s many problems can be fixed or if any fan-made works present in the game will be acknowledged.