Five things we want to see in Star Wars: Squadrons

Next generation upgrades

Something that has seen a bit of focus as we move slowly into the next generation of consoles is the prospect of upgrading titles between generations. Xbox’s “Smart Delivery” system is the pioneer, here, with a number of third and first party titles leading the way. For example, if you buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One X, you can get the optimized Xbox Series X version for free.

During EA Play Live 2020, both FIFA and Madden 21 were announced to be the first titles in EA’s “Dual Entitlement” service which will, as far as we can see, operate in the same manner as Smart Delivery, albeit serving both Playstation and Xbox’s next iterations.

Whether Star Wars: Squadrons is due to receive a Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X version remains to be seen. While Xbox Series X has full backwards compatibility, PS5 will support “the overwhelming majority” of the PS4 library. What that means is, right now, is that there is no guarantee you will be able to play Squadrons on that brand new console you may buy weeks later.

From a business standpoint, it’s understandable. I can’t imagine EA would be interested in releasing a game knowing that a portion of its potential base might hold off buying it until the next generation version is available. From a player point of view, however, having a Star Wars game playable at the launch of a new console isn’t something we’ve seen since Rogue Squadron II on the GameCube. The ability to carry your progress over with you? That’d be an intriguing option for anyone.