Star Wars Battlefront: Has EA finally succeeded in doing DLC right?

Electronic Arts confirmed in late January that Star Wars Battlefront had shipped in excess of 13 million units across all platforms. But a casual shooter with a $50 season pass? There was no way to sugarcoat the announcement of DLC priced on par with Battlefield or Call of Duty. However, thanks to a detailed content rollout plan, there was sufficient incentive for players to purchase it—and this is before taking into consideration the free stuff they’ve been getting since December. [caption id=“attachment_304197” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Battlefront is pretty clear on what’s coming this year[/caption] But let’s face it, the industry standard appears to be the divulging of no concrete information regarding what’s coming as add-on content for a game during its life cycle. Games like Destiny and Call of Duty have been guilty of this “let’s make it up as we go” approach. CoD can rest on its laurels, however. With a clear commitment to delivering multiplayer and zombies maps on a regular basis, season pass holders might be in the dark, but are generally kept happy until the release of the next game. Destiny, was not doing too shabbily until the release of The Taken King, after which, the promise of free content backed by a microtransaction model (involving cosmetic purchases) has seen the game flounder. [caption id=“attachment_304199” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Details about Destiny’s upcoming expansion are scarce[/caption] DICE has managed to keep players interested in Battlefront by clear communication and a steady flow of free content. For all of the game’s inherent lack of depth, there seems to be something happening constantly—be it weapon, vehicle and ability balancing or a periodic release of freebies. The free stuff, believe it or not, is actually pretty good. In December, The Battle of Jakku and the “Turning Point” game mode were given to all players for free, in February, they could sink their teeth into a night version of the iconic Hoth map, while this month, a flaming version of Endor will be available to everyone. DICE also added new tutorials, maps and even a private matchmaking feature for custom games. [caption id=“attachment_304200” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Some more information would be great, Black Ops III[/caption] By surprising players with free content and laying out a clear plan for paid DLC, DICE has both rewarded its existing player base for sticking with the game, as well as incentivising the purchase of its season pass. If players are happy with the free content, they’re practically convincing themselves that the paid content will be of the same standard, if not better. More importantly, players are able to make an informed decision regarding the season pass. [caption id=“attachment_304201” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  The Division Year One Roadmap[/caption] Fortunately, another evil megacorporation that everyone loves to hate, Ubisoft, seems to have taken note of this. Recently laying out a roadmap for Tom Clancy’s The Division, Ubi has stopped short of promising precise release dates for the game’s various expansions and endgame content. Like Battlefront, free stuff is included as well. This is a good trend, and gamers should really hope that it catches on. There’s enough hate game companies receive from players for trying to make money selling season passes, DLC and content “already on the disc”. The least they can do before making players pay double for a game and add-ons is tell us exactly what they’ll be getting, and when they’ll be getting it. This will soothe the pain of the inevitable annual Call of Duty installment, its supplemental season pass, and consequential division of the player base. Star Wars Battlefront may not be perfect, but it has set a standard of sorts. Its players might have their eyes on the Cloud City and Death Star DLCs specifically, but with this sort of incentive, might end up skirmishing in Jabba’s palace as well.