Update October 26, 2016: Respawn and EA have clarified their stance on Titanfall 2’s post-release content, saying you won’t see a Season Pass pop up for the DLC – it’ll all be free.
“Remember when buying a game got you everything?” asked the Titanfall 2 Twitter today. “Another reason #Titanfall2 is different, no Season Pass needed…”
How will the sequel rate on our list of the best FPS games?
Here’s the tweet:
Remember when buying a game got you everything?
Another reason #Titanfall2 is different, no season pass needed… https://t.co/aOcOtlUuyX pic.twitter.com/JaqyauCrkw— Titanfall (@Titanfallgame) October 26, 2016
The official site says “all maps & modes will be free in Titanfall 2 Multiplayer”. This, they say, is because they don’t want to split the community when maps land. There are already some new maps planned, and up first is a remastered Angel City from the original Titanfall.
“This means once you’ve purchased Titanfall 2, your investment includes a full single player campaign, the full multiplayer maps and modes, and long-term support with no hidden costs,” says the site. “You can pre-order the game to play 3 days early, but it will never cost you extra.”
‘It will never cost you extra’ is a very strong statement, so hopefully they stick to that. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see cosmetic items pop up as optional in-game purchases. I also can’t imagine single-player DLC would be free, if they ever made any.
Still, this kind of policy in 2016 is pretty much unheard of outside of Overwatch. Great stuff, and well worth supporting.
Original Story June 21, 2016: Titanfall 2 is a game successfully realising the failures of its predecessor, specifically that it didn’t have any beyond the business model. Respawn and EA, realising the mistake they made last time, have committed to not splitting the community between haves and have-nots when it comes to map packs, modes and so on. However, there will be paid-for DLC because, as Respawn head honcho Vince Zampella puts it, “if we’re going to support the game, that costs money.”
Reported by PCGamer, Zampella also says that nothing is nailed down so it’s difficult to talk about. While the most player-pleasing move would be cosmetics only, guns, titans or abilities could also be sold without actually splitting anyone – you’d just know that you died to somebody who was willing to spend $3.99 more than you on a specific type of wallrunning. Naturally, we’d hope for the opposite, with nice pink paintjobs for our mechs and particularly sexy helmet shapes.
The intention is to engender trust, says producer Drew McCoy, by not locking people out of maps. However, maps are a proven, reliable and still-used business model, and it might be difficult to convince that audience to go after cosmetics, even after the success of Overwatch. Skins and colourations don’t work quite as well in that more realistic art style, and are less appealing when you know another sequel is likely to make the rounds in 18-24 months.