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Star Wars: Battlefront II Has A Release Date And Deluxe Edition, May Ditch Season Pass
At this year's Star Wars Celebration, EA and Lucasfilm announced the first details regarding Star Wars: Battlefront II. Among those details were some important tidbits about its release, special edition, and season pass status.
Slated for November 17 of this year, Battlefront II will include a special deluxe edition, which offers several bonuses. Those who buy the deluxe edition will be able to play the game three days ahead of everyone else (a bonus more standard for big-budget games every year), upgraded versions of each of the game's character classes (which will, according to EA, grant them "superior firepower, deadly weapon modifications, and epic combat abilities." The edition will also have special ability modifiers for Kylo Ren, Rey, and the Millennium Falcon. Anyone who pre-orders the deluxe or standard editions of the game will also receive special costumes for Ren and Rey inspired by the upcoming "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."
One thing you may have noticed missing is a season pass, another standard feature for special editions nowadays. Speaking with Mashable, Battlefront II creative director Bernd Diemer confirmed the game will not have one. "When we looked at the way Battlefront had evolved over its lifetime, with the DLC and everything, we decided, 'You know what? For this type of game, season passes are not the best thing," Diemer says. "We need to [take it apart] and come up with something better." According to Diemer, putting maps behind a paywall (which often happens when multiplayer shooters have season passes), it can segment the community, which makes it difficulty to keep a community going. "So we definitely want to avoid that," Diemer says.
EA's statement on the matter is a bit more vague, however. "While we’re not ready to confirm any live service plans just yet, what we can say is this we heard the feedback from our Battlefront community loud and clear. We know they want more depth, more progression, and more content." the statement reads. "So we’re focused on delivering that in every dimension of Star War: Battlefront II. We’ll have more to share about our plans soon."
Our Take
Not having a season pass would be a good step forward for the series, which already lacked variety the first time around. Now, if they can adopt a model with free maps and relegate the additional revenue to cosmetics (as several other shooters have these days), Battlefront II may be able to find an even larger audience than the last one.
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