When it was reported that Star Wars: Squadrons wouldn’t be quite the same scope as other recent Star Wars titles, like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, that left players wandering what exactly the scope would be. Creative director Ian Frazier recently elaborated a bit on just what they’re bringing to the table when it comes to the upcoming Star Wars title.
For starters, there won’t be any microtransactions. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Once you purchase the game, that should be the only money you ever spend on it.
Speaking of purchasing, the game will retail for $40, twenty bucks under the usual retail price for AAA titles.
Then there’s the question of DLC. As of right now, there are no plans for any sort of downloadable content. This is not something that Motive Studios plans to expand on. While there’s always the possibility of future content, because it’s certainly not ruled out, the current plan is for this game to ship as a complete product.
One thing in particular that Star Wars: Squadrons is not is a live-service game. The idea of the live-service game is more popular than ever, with GTA Online, Call of Duty, and more series jumping on that bandwagon. It makes perfect financial sense, but it also seems to be fairly polarizing among players. It’s very much a love it or hate it type thing, and those who tend to favor lovingly crafted single-player games can feel left out in the cold.
Star Wars: Squadrons will apparently feature unlockable content and Motive Studios are banking on that being the thing that keeps players coming back for more. It’s a very old-school approach. It’s exciting to see a studio take a risk on something that used to be the standard video game experience. Any players in their 30s and beyond probably have fond memories of spending a weekend knee-deep in a new title, trying to unlock everything it has to offer.
The downside to their plan of not offering DLC is that there are countless memorable space battles in the Star Wars saga, and with the game being smaller in scope and having a $40 price point, it sounds like we’re not going to be able to re-live very many of them. This is where DLC would have really come in handy.
Time will tell if this strategy pays off and if players can go back to a world where once a game is done, it’s done.
