Since the release of Star Wars Battlefront, DICE has added planetary-themed outfits, new maps, and increased support for the fan-favorite game mode, Heroes vs. Villains. However, Battlefront’s first official paid DLC, Outer Rim, is scheduled to release on March 22, and despite having exciting content, it promises to deliver, it may split an already-low player base.
Released last year, Battlefront has shipped more than 13 million units worldwide, and is considered to be the “biggest digital launch of all time.” Sadly, its current player-base is not even half of that number. At the moment, there are only 16,000 people playing Battlefront.
At peak hours, the PlayStation 4 leads the pack with around 32,886 players. The PC player-base is the lowest, crawling behind at 5,133. The declining population should be indicative of the game’s current state — it’s dying. Outer Rim plans to add four new maps, two new heroes, and a wide selection of weapons but also risks splitting a declining player-base. Players across all platforms are already having trouble finding matches online, and it will only become harder when half of the content is not available to them.
Plans to address team-balancing issues and new content may temporarily revitalize the declining player-base, but ultimately, the release of Outer Rim may be more detrimental to the game’s longevity.
The release of DLC in multiplayer games has always been a worrying trend. In the past, players have been forced to obtain a season pass or buy each expansion individually in order to stay relevant and get the most out of their experience.
In all honesty, although I’m super excited to see more content being added into the Star Wars Universe, I can’t justify paying for this expansion. Especially since the base game — even with the tons of free content released — was so lacking already.
DICE has done a fine job listening to player feedback — let’s just hope they listen to this.
