Star Wars; Squadrons is taking an approach that EA games don’t usually take at launch. Not only have the developers made it clear that it’s not a live service title, the game is also confirmed to feature no microtransactions, while it’s also launching at a lower-than-standard price of $40. Specifically where the latter is concerned, why exactly did EA choose to launch the game at a lower price point?
According to EA executives, that price was decided based on the “breadth” of the experience on offer. Speaking recently during EA’s quarterly financial briefing (transcribed by Twinfinite), EA’s chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said that in spite of being “an incredible game”, Squadrons doesn’t offer the breadth in gameplay that other EA titles do, and as such, a lower price point felt right for the game.
“We always look at the games and we want to make sure we are providing the greatest value for our players,” Jorgensen said. “Games all have different scale and most of our games right now have huge scale. We designed this game to really focus on what we heard from consumers which is one of the greatest fantasies, to be able to fly an X-Wing or a TIE-Fighter and be in a dogfight.
“So it doesn’t have the breadth of some of our games, but it is still an incredible game. That’s why we choose to price it at a slightly lower level. To also allow access to as many people as possible who have that Star Wars fantasy.”
EA CEO Andrew Wilson also spoke about the same and made comments along the same lines, also adding that Squadrons fits within EA’s spectrum of differently priced games.
“I would start with what are the player motivations we’re trying to fulfil and what are the expectations of these player groups in fulfilling these motivations,” said Wilson. “We start there long before we ever get to pricing. As you’ve seen from us we have games across the spectrum of pricing, whether that’s free to play, or $60, or $60 with an additional live service, or as part of our subscription offerings.”
“At the end of the day, as we think about it, we start with the player, we start with the motivations and expectations that they have, and we build the game,” he added. “In this case, this is a very deep and immersive game and $40 felt like the right price point given the breadth of the game.”
Star Wars: Squadrons releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 2, and will feature VR support on PS4 and PC. At launch, the game will have 8 different Starfighters and 4 unique classes for players to choose from. You can check out extensive new gameplay footage through here.
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