why the hell do i need playstation plus to play star wars battlefront???

@Garret2010

@Carbonic is correct.  You should know that Sony now requires PS Plus to play online multiplayer.  Xbox has required Gold for a long time, and recently Sony has required PS Plus just the same.  You can thank the script kiddies "Lizard Squad" that DDoS'd PSN (among other things) during 2014 Xmas.  After this, they started requiring PS Plus subs, for which I think is to increase their security measures and stability of the network overall.

Also, as Carbonic stated, Sony decided to implement this.  If you don't like it, take it up with Sony.  EA has no control over how the consoles allow multiplayer.  There is no subscription fee to play on PC.