After the full reveal of Star Wars Battlefront at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim California last week, many fans were amazed and impressed by what they saw in the trailer and descriptions of the game. Just as many fans, however, seemed to be concerned that the game would follow what has become the EA business model; IE selling you a game, then holding back more pieces of that game to be sold as DLC later down the road.
A Battlefront producer took to Reddit to defend the upcoming game and clarify a few things about the hotly anticipated title. DICE revealed that everyone who pre-orders Star Wars Battlefront will receive the free “Battle of Jakku: DLC a week before its offered to everyone else. This concerned some Redditors that DICE was following a similar path that it had with the Battlefield series.
After Redditor ThatHeathGuy wrote “I have confidence in DICE to make a great game...However I also have confidence that EA will hold most of that back and sell it to you in pieces.” the producer responded with a flat denial; “Please don't make me break what I can and cannot say, but if you think there's anything we're not including in the game to save it for DLC, I can tell you you're 100 percent wrong. In this project, I've never heard anyone say “Let's not do this for launch so we can do it as DLC instead. Ever.”
This sparked another heated Reddit discussion about how exactly DICE determines what is DLC and what is included in launch. “It depends really...” said DICE_TheBikingViking “DLC are planned out separately from the main game, however they're generally given some additional time to add in additional fixes/features not planned for at the time of conception...The only time a feature has been moved to a DLC was when there was simply no time or resources to make it happen and it came down to either its cut completely and never being made, or it gets pushed to a future patch or DLC.”
Still fans were skeptical, especially about the number of maps available at launch. Battlefield 4 launched with only 8 maps and that was a huge concern for Battlefront fans as well.
DICE_TheBikingViking again defended the title, confirming there are more maps to be unveiled; “Also, please stop with the reduced number of maps. We have more than 8 maps...How many have not been announced yet, but it's more than 8.”
DICE was also criticized for how it handled the Battlefield 4 Launch in 2013, with many Redditors calling it a “disaster.” Also saying that if “DICE really cared for the gamers, you wouldn't have released a title in that state.” said Redditor bf4ness.
DICE fired back and seemed to understand and accept the distrust, saying “No, I'm not telling you to trust us! That's entirely up to you...I can repeat: I only have my words right now, and I don't expect anyone to just trust what I say.”
All in all, it is understandable that fans would have these concerns, especially after not only waiting for 10 years for this game, but seeing the developers track record in regards to game launches and downloadable content. It was a huge gesture of faith on DICE's part to take part in the Reddit discussions and we can only hope that they do right by the long time fans of the series.
Star Wars Battlefront is slated for a November 17th(US), 20th(UK) release on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.