Big Picture Big Sound

Dolby Atmos Comes to Gaming with EA's Star Wars: Battlefront

By Rachel Cericola

Happy Star Wars Day (May the Fourth Be With You)!

While we've been a bit underwhelmed by the trickle of new Dolby Atmos-enabled movies being released to the home market on Blu-ray Disc, it looks like Dolby has been working on other ways to bring the immersive surround format home. And they're taking advantage of the surge in popularity in all things Star Wars by partnering with Electronic Arts to bring the first-ever immersive soundtrack to a video game with Star Wars: Battlefront.

The upcoming title will use the same object-based sound format that debuted in theaters back in 2012. Adding Dolby Atmos to gaming will allow content creators to place and move sounds from every object, whether that's a speeding car, a rocket, or a stomping Stormtrooper. Those sounds can then be placed anywhere and everywhere in the soundfield -- including overhead. During last week's announcement, EA also performed a demo of the game, to rave reviews.

Dolby Atmos "truly simulates sound coming from every angle of the room," said Lucas Siegel of Comicbook.com. "When the AT-AT's foot slammed down, you heard the creaking of the joints from above and the deafening smash vibrating from all around you."

StarWarsBattlefront.jpg
Photo: "Star Wars" © & ™ 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. Underlying technology and game design © EA.

This isn't the first time that EA has been recognized for the audio in one of its games. The company previously won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for audio achievement for the game Battlefront 3.

To date, Dolby Atmos has been used or will be used in more than 275 titles from all of the major studios. Last year, the audio format debuted in home theaters and mobile devices. Earlier this year, Dolby announced plans to partner with Jaunt to bring Dolby Atmos to virtual reality.

Dolby says that the company is excited to work with EA on other gaming products with Dolby Atmos in the future, but it's too early to make any additional announcements.

Star Wars: Battlefront will be released on November 17, 2015, in North America and November 20, 2015, in the UK for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.

Where to Buy:

Related Articles:

What did you think?

View all articles by Rachel Cericola
Big News
Newsletter Sign-up
 
Connect with Us