Star Wars: Squadrons will have 'zero microtransactions'

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Creative director Ian Frazier said the game isn't built around a 'live-service strategy.'

(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

We noted in our recent look at Star Wars: Squadrons that while the game will have two kinds of unlockables, cosmetics and modifications, Electronic Arts hadn't commented on the presence of microtransactions in the game. Today it clarified the situation: There won't be any at all.

"Our mindset has been very old school," Motive Studios creative director Ian Frazier told Game Informer. "We're trying to say with this game that we have a $40 price point, we want to feel generous to players, and we want it to feel like a complete experience. Like, 'You gave us your $40. Here's a game that you will love. Thank you.' That's it."

"This isn't something we are building around a live-service strategy. It's built around a game that is complete and great in its own right. That's not to say we will never add anything, I guess we could, but it's not presented as a live service."

To my reading, "not presented as a live service" is a pretty vague and open-ended statement. Fortunately, Squadrons writer Mitch Dyer weighed in on the matter, and he was considerably clearer about it.

It's still possible that Star Wars: Squadrons could have microtransactions added at some point after release, but as far as the state of the game at launch is concerned, that's about as unambiguous as you can get.

I'm not entirely sold on Star Wars: Squadrons yet—where's my TIE Defender, EA?—but our former EIC Samuel Roberts, who's something of a Star Wars fan, returned to our pages today to talk about why he mostly is, saying that its unlikely existence "shows that EA finally understands what PC players want." It's set to come out on October 2.

Thanks, GamesRadar.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.