Star Wars Battlefront 2 may not have a season pass but 'something better' reveals creative director

EA's Star Wars: Battlefront 2 may not feature a DLC season pass, according to creative director Bernd Diemer who teased that the studio was working on "something different" instead. Ahead of its official Star Wars Celebration reveal over the weekend, Diemer pointedly told Mashable: "We don't have a season pass."

"We decided on that, and it's one of those difficult decisions because it has so many implications all around," he said. "When we looked at the way Battlefront had evolved over its lifetime, with the DLC and everything, we decided, 'You know what? For this type of game, season passes are not the best thing. We need to [take it apart] and come up with something better."

Diemer explained that they came to the decision to do away with a season pass because they didn't want to "segment our community".

"I cannot talk about the specifics of this, but we have something different in mind that will allow you to play longer, be [more] invested in the game without having a fragmented community," he said.

"I cannot talk about the specifics of this, but we have something different in mind that will allow you to play longer, be [more] invested in the game without having a fragmented community."

When the first Star Wars: Battlefront was released in 2015, some fans said the game seemed incomplete with a lot of content only available via DLC that was released through its season pass that cost $50 – just $10 less the game's full price at launch. Players also found it difficult to find matches and play with friends who did not keep coming back for new post-launch content drops.

Diemer said locking new maps and modes behind a paywall was "dangerous" to the health of the game's community and leads to it "falling apart because there are simply not many people playing the different modes".

"So we definitely want to avoid that," he said.

Mashable reports that EA later reached out after Diemer's interview to withhold details regarding the season pass of Battlefront 2. In a statement clarifying Diemer's comments, EA said they are not ready to confirm any live service plans as of now.

"While we're not ready to confirm any live service plans just yet, what we can say is this we heard the feedback from our Battlefront community loud and clear," EA said. "We know they want more depth, more progression, and more content. So we're focused on delivering that in every dimension of Star Wars Battlefront 2. We'll have more to share about our plans soon."

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is set to release on 17 November for PS4, Xbox One and PC.