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After an eager wait, EA today announce Star Wars Battlefront‘s DLC plan for the next year, which includes a myriad of free updates alongside the planned Season Pass content. After Battlefront‘s initial reception, the contents of the DLC plan are surprisingly good, yet somewhat disappointing.
Star Wars Battlefront‘s chief criticism at launch was its lack of content. The game is a credit to DICE’s attention to detail, with everything from the crisp graphics to the incredible audio effects and stellar gameplay working together to place players right in the middle of the Star Wars universe – though there just aren’t enough environments to play on.
Star Wars Battlefront so far
At launch there were 4 planets – Endor, Hoth, Sullust, and Tatooine – that each sported a few variants depending on the game mode being played (for example, Endor’s Walker Assault map is larger and more open than its Blast variant).
This made for a few maps, but not enough variation between them – especially given that there are only limited variants of each available per mode.
In December, DICE released the Battle of Jakku DLC for free, which included the fun Turning Point game mode and the fantastic Jakku map, totalling the game’s current playable environments at 5 planets.
Fans have said that while the game is incredibly fun and well polished, there just isn’t enough content to keep them coming back long-term.
The future of Battlefront DLC
EA’s recently released DLC plan details free and paid DLC for roughly the next 12 months. The plan for free content over the next few months is as follows:
This week:
- The Tatooine Survival map (called Raider Camp) will support Blast, Droid Run, Drop Zone, Hero Hunt, and Heroes vs. Villains modes
- Hoth outfits for Luke and Han (previously unlocked upon completion of the Heroes’ Holiday community mission) The ability to create private matches
- Daily Challenges and Community Events
- General weapon and mode balancing tweaks.
February:
- Survival mission on Hoth (map not disclosed)
- New Hoth multiplayer map supporting Walker Assault, Supremacy, Fighter Squadron, and Turning Point.
- Turning Point mode available on all maps that currently support Walker Assault and Supremacy.
March:
- New Endor multiplayer map supporting Walker Assault, Supremacy, and Turning Point.
- Tatooine Survival map.
With new maps for all game modes, new Survival missions, challeneges/community events, new character outfits, and Turing Point soon to be available on all maps, this is a great amount of free content spaced out consistently over the coming months.
After the initial wave of free DLC, EA gets into its release plans for the Season Pass, details of which fans have been eagerly awaiting.
Star Wars Battlefront Season Pass Expansions
- Star Wars Battlefront Outer Rim (March 2016)
“Fight among the factories of Sullust and battle within Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine”
- Star Wars Battlefront Bespin (Summer 2016)
“It’s hunt or be hunted in this action-packed experience set in the Cloud City of Bespin”
- Star Wars Battlefront Death Star (Fall 2016)
“That’s no moon! One of the most iconic locations in the Star Wars universe makes its debut in Star Wars Battlefront”
- Star Wars Battlefront Expansion Pack 4 – Title TBA (Early 2017)
On one hand, it’s great to see classic locations such as Jabba’s Palace and Bespin make a return to the series, and it’ll be really interesting to see how they’re incorporated into DICE’s take on Star Wars Battlefront.
The issue that fans have with the Season Pass announcement is that, based on the current descriptions, there isn’t quite enough information to justify purchasing the standalone DLC, let alone a pass that costs almost as much as the game itself.
This compounds the problem of Star Wars Battlefront‘s lack of current content – you’ll get more, arguably quality, maps and modes, but you’ll have to pay to get there.
We’ll find out more as we get closer to the launch months, but at the moment it’s suggested that each expansion pack comes with as much – if not slightly less – content as the free updates.
The free content update is an exciting move on DICE and EA’s behalf, but one and a half months away from the first Expansion pack we still don’t know what the entirety of the contents will be. Will it be worth the price? At this point, it doesn’t seem so, which might leave fans in the rut they’re currently in.
We’ve been pleasantly surprised by DICE and EA before, so we’ll have to wait for more details closer to the Expansion packs.