Why 'Star Wars: Squadrons' Won't Have Any Post-Launch DLC

EA and Motive Studios have announced that “Star Wars: Squadrons” will not have any post-launch DLC, emphasizing that the game is already a finished product.

When “Star Wars: Battlefront II” was launched in 2017, it was universally criticized for being a disaster, particularly for its use of microtransactions and loot boxes to improve teams and rise through the ranks of either the Resistance or the Empire. So bad was the backlash that it even led to a company reshuffle at EA.

Knowing its history very well, EA has promised not to repeat those mistakes and said it will not be offering any microtransactions after the launch of “Star Wars: Squadrons.”

Ian Frazier, creative director for “Star Wars: Squadrons,” told UploadVR that they are not trying to treat the game like a live service.

“We don’t want to say, ‘It’s almost done!’ and then dribble out more of it over time, which to be honest is how most games work these days,” Frazier said.

“So, we’ve tried to treat it in kind of an old-school approach saying, ‘You’ve paid the $40, this is the game and it’s entirely self-contained. We’re not planning to add more content, this is the game, and we hope you understand the value proposition,’” he added.

It is a noble yet refreshing take in an industry that has increasingly embraced DLC for the past decade. One cannot help but feel at times that after the popularization of DLC and post-launch content, companies are rushing to produce and release unfinished games and have DLC somehow correct their mistakes after the games are already in the market.

When asked if more game modes or new maps could be added in the future, Frazier said, “From pretty early on we wanted to be a space combat game, emphasis on space. So even though we do go into the outer atmosphere of Yavin Prime, we never go anywhere truly terrestrial because we wanted to separate the game in that flavor from something like ‘Battlefront,’ which we already have.”

Clearly, the “Star Wars: Battlefront II” fiasco still weighs heavily on the minds of people at EA and Motive. But if the result is a complete game at launch with no post-game DLC to address any perceived holes that were left unplugged before it was released, then the consumer is the ultimate winner.

With no upgrade for the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the space-dogfighting sim can still be played on the next-gen consoles but will not receive visual upgrades to maximize them.