Last week, Emperor Sheev Palpatine - Darth Sidious to his friends - was pulled from Star Wars Battlefront 2. He was too powerful! So powerful, in fact, he could kill people through walls.

A week on and there's no word on Palpatine's return, as players continue to enjoy a period of galactic calm without Palpy being able to send lightning around corners.

Interestingly, EA killed off the Emperor using a "kill switch" - a piece of code in the game which can be activated server side to instantly vanish a troublesome character should something go awry. Think Order 66, but over the internet.

The change was quietly detailed in the depths of an EA blog post on balance changes, but did not make news at the time.

RIPalpatine.

Palpatine was a strong character even without augmentation - though various things allow him to be buffed further. The range of his attacks and their power can be seen in some of the gameplay videos posted by fans, decrying the fact he was ridiculously OP.

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Players remain able to use Palpatine in offline modes, however.

Next up for Battlefront is a new squad system, enabling players to team up more easily with friends, a new starfighter mode focussed around dogfighting with hero ships, plus a new "large-scale multiplayer sandbox mode" - in which players capture command posts, attacking and taking out ships. More Clone Wars content, including the planet Geonosis, plus characters like General Grievous, Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi Wan Kenobi, will follow.