In Star Wars: Squadrons, players will enlist as starfighter pilots, stepping into the cockpits of iconic starfighters from both the New Republic and Imperial fleets. They’ll plan skirmishes with their squadron in the briefing room before taking off for space battles across the galaxy. Players will engage in strategic 5v5 multiplayer space battles with the goal of demolishing the opposing flagship in Fleet Battles and will feel the rush of first-person multiplayer combat as they work with their squadron to defeat as many opponents as possible in Dogfights. Pilots will triumph as a team, adjusting the composition of their squadrons to suit their playstyles as they progress, crushing their opponents and completing objectives across known and never-before-seen locations, including the gas giant of Yavin Prime and the shattered moon of Galitan.

Star Wars: Squadrons will offer rich cosmetic and gameplay customization options with rewards and bonuses that are earned solely through gameplay. As players move up the ranks, they’ll earn components  such as weapons, hulls, engines and shields to customize the performance of their starfighters; and gain cosmetic items to customize their cockpit, ship exteriors, and appearance of their pilot. In addition, players will be able to squad up with their friends and play against others, regardless of platform, as cross-play will be supported on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and VR.

Star Wars: Squadrons will also feature a single-player story that brings to life events following the Battle of Endor when the Rebel Alliance has successfully destroyed the Death Star II. Through the story, players  will learn what it means to be a pilot as they battle from the alternating perspectives of two customizable pilots, one serving in the New Republic’s heroic Vanguard Squadron, while the other fights for the Galactic Empire’s fearsome Titan Squadron. The authentic story features a diverse cast of original characters, as well as some cameos from familiar faces in the Star Wars galaxy.

With launch just around the corner, we wanted to equip you all with some important details about how Star Wars™: Squadrons will provide you with new things to do over time!

As we’ve said since back when we revealed Squadrons at EA Play Live 2020, this is a self-contained game, where all progression, unlocks and rewards are earned solely through play. Today, we’re going into more details about how we’ll entertain and reward you for as many hours as you put into the game!

The core pillars of Squadrons’ online experience (outside of the game modes themselves) are Challenges, Operations, and your Level. Within each of these are ways for you to be rewarded with Glory, a currency only earned by playing that’s used to unlock cosmetics.

You’ll also get Experience (XP) while playing from just about everything, allowing you to level up and earn Requisition, the currency used to unlock ship components. For more details on cosmetics and Glory or ship components and Requisition, be sure to check out our Pilot Briefing on customization

Your main forms of reward beyond post-match earnings will be through Challenges. Daily and Operation Challenges; they’re timed, rotating objectives you can complete to get rewards while playing.

You’ll want to regularly complete your Daily Challenges to keep getting rewarded while playing Squadrons. They’re often simple objectives that provide you with Glory to unlock cosmetics for your starfighters and pilots and encourage you to try different ships and components to achieve completion. Glory is also earned based on how you perform in a match. Operation Challenges, however, are different. They can reward you with unique cosmetics and are tied to the game’s ongoing Operations.

Operations are 8-week cycles that happen in Squadrons, and each Operation brings with it a set of unique cosmetic rewards that can only be earned by completing its Challenges. Certain Challenges also offer unique rewards, too, so once they’re gone, you won’t be able to get the cosmetic unless the Operation Challenges return one day. Seeing which pilots are showing off their unique flair will be a good way to tell if you’re up against a dedicated ace.

Also tied into these 8-week resets is your Fleet Battles rank. With every Operation’s conclusion and the start of a new one, your competitive rank tied to Fleet Battles will reset, allowing for a regular reassessment of your skills. To get your first rank, you’ll need to play in ten placement matches.

The ranks are as follows from lowest to highest:

Maverick - Hotshot - Hero - Valiant - Legend - Galactic Ace

Thomas Mir: Operations are our take on competitive play through a ranked ladder system that resets every 8 weeks—a way for our players to test their skills and teamwork capabilities in our more strategic mode: Fleet Battles.

The system is built to encourage players to improvement their skills without being overly punishing if you run into some bad luck:

• Players are protected from demotion into lower divisions for the length of an active Operation. (Editor’s note: This means you cannot drop from Legend to Valiant but you can drop from Legend III to Legend II.)
• At the end of the Operation, players receive Glory based on the maximum Rank achieved rather than their current Rank. This is to push pilots to go as far as they can!

Players also get exclusive helmets upon reaching the Valiant, Legend, and Galactic Ace Ranks for the first time. These are the same across all Operations, so if you didn’t manage to get the ones you wanted during your first Operation, you can still get them in the upcoming ones.

Players also have their own personal level. Your level is a linear progression path that does not reset, unlike your competitive rank. For the first forty levels, you’ll unlock Requisition points that can be used to unlock ship components. If you’re one of our more dedicated pilots and you hit level 40, you’ll have enough points to unlock all components, allowing you to try out every potential starfighter build. Our goal with levelling isn’t that you’ll get more powerful as you level up, but rather that you’ll have more options available to you (via components) as you play.

As mentioned before, there will also be occasional bonus events that play out over time, including ones that provide additional Glory. Beyond that, completing parts of the game will also provide you with cosmetic bundles. Players will get a bundle of cosmetics for completing the single-player story mode and another for completing the Fleet Battles tutorial.

While almost all of the game’s experiences will be built in at launch, we’ll still be updating it over time. We’ve seen a few questions about this, but should anything need to be balanced or fixed, we’ll be actively taking your feedback to make this the best possible starfighter experience! Release notes will be provided with any updates we make so you can always know what’s changed.

We’re less than two weeks away from launch! The game has gone gold and the team is finalizing some additional tweaks for a Day One patch, including HOTAS support on consoles, to make it the best experience possible. As you can imagine, we’re all extremely excited and wracked with the usual pre-launch nerves (which is winning out varies minute-by-minute), but that’s the best part! Getting the game into your hands is what we’ve all been dreaming about since we started working on Squadrons. Soon, that day will be here, so hang in just a little longer and stay on target with us! Until next time. . . .

See you in the stars, pilots.

Star Wars: Squadrons is available now for pre-order and lands on retail and digital storefronts on October 2 for $39.99. EA Access and Origin Access Basic subscribers can enjoy up to 10 hours of play time at launch, along with 10% off the purchase of the full game. Origin Access Premier subscribers will get full access to Star Wars: Squadrons on PC along with all the benefits of Basic as long as they subscribe.

Star Wars: Squadrons will launch October 2, 2020 on PS4, Xbox One, PC (Origin, Steam and the Epic Games Store), and will be playable via Virtual Reality (VR) on PS 4 and PC with cross-play support.