(Photo: LucasArts/Petroglyph)

Back in its heyday, LucasArts worked with a game studio known as Petroglyph to create and publish a strategic Star Wars video game called Empire at War. Taking place during the Rise of the Empire era, the game was meant to show off battles that took place between the Empire at its peak and the fledgling Rebellion.

With the dissipation of LucasArts and Electronic Arts' current ownership over most things within the realm of Star Wars video games, the chances of a sequel disappeared as well. In the fact of that, passionate fans have carried the game on through fan-made mods, including mods inspired by other beloved eras within the saga, such as the Clone Wars-era Republic at War mod.

In a recent Reddit AMA created to promote the studio's new game, Forged Battalion, Petroglyph developers answered one hopeful question regarding the future of the game, which may be predictable by anyone who has ever loved classic Star Wars games by now.

Q: Back in the day, Petroglyph was responsible for the Empire at War series with LucasArts. The recent multi-player update and the workshop inclusion have made the game breathe new life, but is there an official Petroglyph expansion anywhere in the future? If the answer is no purely from a corporate direction level, what would it take/what check boxes need to be filled to make it happen?

A: Unfortunately, no official expansion is in the works - although we are still collecting data and hoping to get another patch out based on feedback. This is something that is purely corporate. I don't have details, but EA has the license to do all Star Wars games and they seem focused on making a few titles at a very high quality bar. So, they are using all their available resources to that end, which means that if you're not into FPS, it's not currently a priority. We have reached out to them a few times to see if they would be interested in contracting us to build an Empire at War II at the same quality level as their other Star Wars FPS titles, but nothing has resulted from that (yet).

It's nice to see that Petroglyph is -- at the very least -- game for this sort of thing, and ready to produce a sequel at the same caliber as a title like Battlefront II. For now, though, fans will have to remain patient and trust in the Force (or at least hold on to the hope for more news around Star Wars video games soon).

Source: Reddit via Star Wars Gaming