Last week, Star Wars Battlefront II created some controversy. No, not about loot boxes, unfixed bugs, removed heroes, or lost player progress—an entirely new controversy. And it all began with an innocent, hype-inducing picture of a Droideka.

On August 22nd, EA DICE released its newest Community Transmission detailing the upcoming Elite Corps Update. Players have been demanding Clone Wars content since the game’s launch, and the devs are finally delivering. Players will be able to purchase the 41st Elite Corps and 327th Star Corps skins on August 29, a small but welcome influx of content. Additionally, the weird but wonderful Ewok Hunt will become a permanent fixture in the game, and heroes and units will cost fewer Battlepoints in game. They also announced the pricing for Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous, new score breakdowns, and a few bug fixes. In short, patient Battlefront II players finally received a lot of good news.

But all most players could focus on was a small shape in the bottom right section of the featured image. Beneath the 327th trooper’s rifle stands a familiar curved brown shape on crab-like legs. It was the unmistakable shape of a Droideka, the rolling destroyer droids from the prequel trilogy.

Fans became ecstatic. This hidden little surprise made players believe that EA DICE had been working on all sorts of new content all along. With an empty slot in the Enforcer selection screen, the community was almost positive about what was coming next. They believed this was an intentional leak, like when an asset list “accidentally” stated Geonosis was the next planet under development. 

Unfortunately, the developers decided to crush their hopes and dreams just two days later.

In a post responding to the screenshot, community manager Ben Walke stated that while the image did include a Droideka, the team has “no active plans for a Droideka, nor do we have any assets within our active development version of the game.” Somehow, the team also mistook the obvious Droideka as “a crashed speeder or environmental clutter.” Maybe a Star Wars game should have developers who actually recognize Star Wars content when they see it.

Walke concluded his post with a line that has become Battlefront II’s calling card: “Moving forward we will be taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.”

I appreciate Walke’s clarification, but its implications reflect just how far this game has fallen. Not only is the team not working on one of the most requested features, they can’t even be bothered to check their own PR images. The endless Battlefront II publicity nightmare is one of the most embarrassing examples of mismanagement in gaming history.

I’m running out of excuses for EA DICE and Star Wars Battlefront II. I’ve supported the game through thick and thin, but the blunders continue to mount. A game with this much financial backing should not stumble as frequently as it does. Excuses and apologies don’t mean anything without real change, something we have yet to see.

We’ll keep you informed on any Star Wars Battlefront II news as it happens. Hopefully, the next update will be a more positive one. For more gaming news, be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter and Facebook.