Star Wars Battlefront 2 DLC: EA adds free content with The Last Jedi Season starting today

Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s first piece of DLC is finally here and it’s totally free!

We already knew that EA was doing away with the season pass for Star Wars Battlefront 2, but that doesn’t make it seem any less cool that Star Wars: The Last Jedi content is completely free. It’s not an insignificant update either, with a new chapter being added to the single-player campaign alongside new heroes for multiplayer and a slew of bug fixes.

The story chapter update is designed to tie the events of the game into Disney’s upcoming film, while the multiplayer content brings Finn, Captain Phasma, Crait and D’Qar as playable heroes. There are also two new maps and you can see all the patch notes to find out what bugs have been fixed.

All content is free and available for download now. The contraversial microtransactions still remain though.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Microtransaction debacle, as it happened

Because of all the loot box and microtransactions controversy surrounding the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2, it didn’t go down too well on day one.

In fact, the controversy has been so bad that Disney supposedly forced EA’s hand and made them remove transactions entirely. VentureBeat reports that Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped a call to EA boss Andrew Wilson only hours before EA made the call to pull all microtransactions from the game. The Wall Street Journal reports that call was to “express Disney executives’ unhappiness at how the outrage ‘reflected on their marquee property'”.

Following this news, Star Wars creators Lucasfilm chimed in on the matter, saying to The Washington Post that it supported EA’s decision to remove microtransactions.

“Star Wars has always been about the fans,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson stated, “and whether it’s Battlefront or any other Star Wars experience, they come first. That’s why we support EA’s decision to temporarily remove in-game payments to address fan concerns.”

EA has stated that this is a temporary removal until they manage to find a solution that works for everyone.

Despite EA backpedalling on microtransaction costs, and then completely removing them, it seems physical sales of Battlefront 2 aren’t great. Currently tracking at 60% down compared to 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront, it doesn’t seem likely digital sales will be able to account for the shortfall. It’s more than likely that EA is going to need to do a lot of hard work to get fans back on side.

After it emerged during the EA Access/Origin Access 10-hour trial that heroes were only unlocked after around 40 hours of play – or by ponying up a wad of in-game cash – EA suffered a lot of backlash from fans. This led to EA issuing a statement on the matter, which then became the most downvoted Reddit post in history.

To remedy this, and help save the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2, EA published a blog post to explain it had slashed the cost of heroes by 75%. It’s unclear if this is simply for launch, or a permanent reduction. This should mean it takes less time to acrue in-game credits to unlock heroes and, therefore, costs less for those who want to pay to play as said heroes if they don’t want to spend hours earning said credits.

While it’s certainly a nice move from EA to reduce costs thanks to player backlash, it really shouldn’t have happened in the first place. EA’s stance is clearly one where it believes it could get away with it because Star Wars fans will pay pretty much anything to access the franchise they love. EA clearly didn’t count on people hating microtransactions so much.

Here’s everything else you need to know about Star Wars Battlefront 2.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Everything you need to know

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Release date

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Pre-order two Battlefront 2 PS4s

Sony has announced it’s releasing two limited-edition Star Wars Battlefront 2 PS4 bundles.

The most exciting has to be a PS4 Pro bundle consisting of a Star Wars themed console and matching DualShock 4 controller – complete with a mirror finish and First Order and Rebellion logos. It also comes bundled with a physical copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 Deluxe Edition. The second, cheaper bundle consists of a Jet Black 1TB PS4 Slim, one controller and a copy of the standard edition of the game.

Both bundles have been announced for Europe and the UK however, at the time of writing, no retailers seem to be carrying it or offering up a price point.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-EGaJ3FQKok

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Beta feedback changes

Following the Star Wars Battlefront 2 multiplayer beta, the game’s developer DICE has responded to fan concerns.

Interestingly, over the course of the beta there was much outcry at the Loot Crate system and general player progression. DICE has said it’s looking into both concerns and has stated that it may switch up the Strike game mode to turn it into a “best-of-three” round game type instead of its winner-takes-all one-round setup.

DICE also states it’s going to nerf the Specialist class’ Infiltration ability as they believe it’s a touch overpowered right now. As part of that balancing act, it’s going to improve the First Order Flametrooper whom they believe is underpowered.

Aside from gameplay changes, DICE is also looking to bring in new systems to keep players grouped together during matches. To ensure this works, DICE is also looking to reward players who spawn together – although it’s only going to implement this at launch.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Single player campaign

Star Wars Battlefront II‘s single-player campaign is, clearly, the hottest thing about this year’s release. Instead of simply casting you in the role of a rote rebel soldier, EA and DICE have broken from convention and cast you in the role of an Imperial special forces soldier. Playing as Iden Versio, commander of Inferno Squad, Star Wars Battlefront II tasks you with taking down the rebel scum that threatens the Empire’s stability.

Speaking to Polygon during Star Wars Celebration, EA Motive’s Mark Thompson explained that the Battlefront II team “wanted to give the Empire heroes in the same way [the rebels have]”. The story of Iden Versio takes place right after the destruction of Death Star II (the one from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) and aims to show that, while the rebel forces are celebrating the win, Imperial forces feel crushed and more motivated to avenge their emperor. It’s almost like a connecting story to explain how the Empire managed to persevere despite appearing to have been totally destroyed at the end of Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: It’s set across all three trilogies

Star Wars Battlefront only focused upon the original trilogy of films, placing players within episodes IV, V and VI. In Star Wars Battlefront 2, however, DICE is throwing everything into the pot with maps and modes focusing on all three eras of the Star Wars universe.

It’s still somewhat unclear exactly what this pertains to, but expect playable heroes from each set of trilogies. We also know that maps from the first three episodes will be available, along with those from the middle trilogy. As the final trilogy hasn’t been completed yet, it’s difficult to say what areas will be available to fight in – although expect some The Last Jedi DLC to come once the film arrives in cinemas at the end of the year.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: Multiplayer

Alongside the announcement of a single player campaign, EA also teased a raft of new multiplayer additions. The massive 40 v 40 battles of Battlefront return and you’ll also be able to play as characters from every era of the Star Wars universe – meaning maps from every entry in the series will be playable.

So far we know that Darth Maul, Kylo Ren, Rey, Yoda, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker all make the cut and it’s likely more will be announced in the run-up to its 17 November release. EA has also announced that split-screen co-op is possible on console versions of Star Wars Battlefront 2 so you can make the most of playing with a friend. Unfortunately, split-screen play is only available when playing offline and PC players don’t have the option at all – probably because EA’s aware nobody really uses a PC for same-screen co-op play.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: No season passes

Yes, you read that correctly, Star Wars Battlefront 2 doesn’t come with a Season Pass to buy. Seeing as so many people have fallen out of love with the idea of the Season Pass, and the fact that locking content away behind it only divided the Battlefront community, EA has decided the best thing to do is abolish them entirely.

EA hasn’t gone into any post-launch specifics around Star Wars Battlefront 2 just yet, but it’s worth remembering that Titanfall 2 didn’t launch with any paid-for DLC – everything was free. I’d be surprised if Star Wars Battlefront 2 adopted the same model – just because it’s already going to have a larger captive audience than Titanfall 2 did – but it’s certainly looking that way

Star Wars Battlefront 2: No VR mode

Battlefront 2

co-developer Criterion has stated that there will be no VR mode coming to Star Wars Battlefront II. Despite having worked on the VR-exclusive Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission for Star Wars Battlefront, Criterion’s general manager Matt Webster confirmed it wouldn’t revisit the medium – at least not on launch.

“At some point we could sit down and spend a good number of hours talking about where VR needs to get to in order to work with [Battlefront 2], because in something like this you’re doing the job of a fighter pilot,” he explained in an interview with Metro. “Making the VR demo absolutely informed the work we’re doing now. So there’s a lot of the VR mission’s soul in Starfighter Assault.”

Webster’s announcement comes as a blow to Star Wars Battlefront 2 fans who may have been hopeful about PlayStation VR inclusion due to an erroneous newsletter Sony sent out. In the newsletter, Sony highlighted that Battlefront 2 would come with support for PSVR, but then later issued a statement saying that “nothing had been announced regarding VR support for Star Wars Battlefront II.”