Star Wars: First Assault multiplayer shooter screens

New screens have emerged for Star Wars: First Assault, but it may be the last we see of the downloadable shooter for a while. Kotaku reports that First Assault, which was first revealed via some leaked Xbox Live Arcade artwork, was intended as a precursor to Star Wars Battlefront III.

The 16-player team-based shooter was scheduled to launch this spring, Kotaku's anonymous sources say, and its performance would dictate the future of the long-dormant Battlefront franchise.

First Assault has no vehicles, nor any powered-up movie characters, but its engine could be built up into a proper Battlefront entry. Or at least, it could have been. LucasArts and the rest of the Lucas franchises were bought by Disney in October, which intends to contract out most Star Wars games and focus on social and mobile titles.

Since LucasArts was informed of the purchase, work froze on First Assault and other LucasArts games as developers wait to hear about the future of their projects, the sources said. This goes for flashy action game Star Wars 1313, as well.

We've asked LucasArts for comment on these reports and will update this article with any response.