While EA and Motive had committed to supporting Star Wars Squadrons with bug fixes and tuning tweaks, the initial stance on the starfighter game was that it wouldn’t be getting any significant content updates like added ships, maps, or modes. It looks like the success of Squadrons managed to change their tune, however. Starting on November 25th and continuing into December, Star Wars Squadrons is getting a couple new ships, a new(ish) map to play on, and a few other new features, via free update.
The new map coming is Fostar Haven, an environment that is technically already in Star Wars Squadrons as the single-player campaign prologue. Fostar Haven is being added to both the Fleet Battles and Dogfight playlists, so online players will get to reexperience this unique location that includes an enclosed side at the dockyards as well as open space to fight in. Fostar Haven will release on November 25th alongside some added ship components that should help different ship types be a little more flexible in battle, as well as better able to support the team.
In December, players will get two new starfighters, one for each side of the fight. The New Republic is adding the B-Wing to its fleet, a long fan-demanded ship that players were disappointed wasn’t part of the original release. It will be classed as a Bomber, but retain its unique gyro cockpit and swiveling wings, along with a few components specifically for this ship. There will also be a special Episode VI cosmetic variant.
On the Empire side, players will hop into a TIE Defender, classed as a fighter. The TIE Defender will get shields, true to its name, as well as a few unique components of its own. Motive says that these two ships fit within the makeup of a fleet very well without feeling overpowered, each with a very specific playstyle.
December will also introduce custom matches to Star Wars Squadrons, letting people set up private matches with friends and allowing them to customize a number of aspects “like hull/shield/damage modifiers, changing capital ship health, restricting certain starfighters, and other tools to help you change how you play.” A custom matches server browser will let players easily find matches with friends or hop into open custom games with random people.
Both the November and December content updates will be free and will also include more bug fixes, balance tuning, and little tweaks that will be revealed closer to each update’s release.
It’s unclear if this is a special one-off set of content updates or if Motive plans to continue supporting the game with even more maps, modes, and ships in the future. One of the biggest downsides we noted in our review was that an online game like this deserves attention and support in the long term from the developer in order to thrive. Earlier this month, Motive released a series of Mandalorian-themed cosmetics to celebrate Season 2 of the show, including a The Child (Baby Yoda) dash figure.
Are you still playing Star Wars Squadrons? Are you excited to see the game getting added content and support despite EA initially indicating it wouldn’t?
[Source: EA]
