For years, fans waited with bated breath for a new Star Wars: Battlefront to be officially announced. When that confirmation came two years ago, it wasn't long before concern set in — was the series about to be turned into an unofficial Battlefield spin-off?

While there's a clear parallel between the large-scale combat of Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield — not to mention the fact that the former is taking the latter's place in EA's typical release schedule — most fans of the original games would be disappointed if this long-awaited sequel was little more than a re-skin of a different franchise's gameplay.

However, news broke this morning that suggests that isn't the case. In an interview reported upon by Games Radar, DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach made it clear that Battlefront will not allow players to use iron sights to aim. This alone suggests that combat will have a very different feel to that of Battlefiel., however there will be a few gun designs that feature "scopes".

Battlefield fans will likely be disappointed that this year's police-themed Hardline will likely have to tide them over until the fall of 2016, but Star Wars fans will be satisfied that DICE are taking the time to develop a distinct feel for the game's mechanics to differentiate their game from other FPS titles.

It also speaks to the future of the Battlefront series. With EA expecting monster sales figures and gameplay being developer to set the series apart from Battlefield, should we expect the two franchises to run alongside one another for years to come?

Disney has already announced plans to produce Star Wars movies for 2016, 2017, and 2018, so there's plenty of reasons for a video game series to run alongside big-budget theatrical releases. Plenty of DLC is in the works, but an out-and-out sequel would seem likely before too long.

DICE's confirmation of no iron sights might seem like a minor detail, but it gives us an idea of just how much stock EA is putting on the resurrection of Battlefront. This isn't a one-off designed to appease fans while the backlash against Battlefield 4 dies down; it's being approached as a continuation of the franchise with a hope for future instalments.

All that being said, the proof is in the pudding. If Battlefront underperforms critically or commercially, these plans might all begin to fall through. However, fans of the series should be buoyed by this news, because it suggests that development is being approached in the right manner.

Star Wars: Battlefront is set to release on November 17, 2015 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Source: Games Radar