Electronic Arts announced in June that its upcoming Starfighter sim "Star Wars: Squadrons" will have "zero microtransactions." Also surprising is the purchase price of $40: "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order," for example, and the new "Madden" and "FIFA" games are all $60. Even "Battlefield 5," which has been on the market for two years, costs more than "Squadrons.

"Squadrons" is a more intensive and specialized experience than many other EA games, Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen explained during the company's quarterly earnings call today.

"All games have different scales, and most of our games now have huge scales. We designed this game to focus on what we heard from our consumers, one of their biggest fantasies: piloting an X-wing fighter or a TIE fighter in a dogfight. piloting an X-wing fighter or a TIE fighter in a dogfight. That's what it's about. So we kept the price point a little bit low to make it accessible to as many people as possible who have Star Wars fantasies," Jorgensen explains.

"Over the years, you've seen us differentiate pricing on a lot of our games. For example, with games like 'Plants vs Zombies,' we knew that it was skewed toward younger players and didn't have the depth of all the game modes that you see in 'FIFA' or 'Madden.'"

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson noted that the company has games "across the pricing spectrum" from free-to-play to premium-priced deluxe editions and subscription services, with price points based on players' "motivations and expectations" He noted that they are set "based on players' motivations and expectations.

"In the case of this game, it's a very deep and immersive game, and we felt $40 was the right price point given the breadth of the game. We wanted it to be a fully self-contained experience, deeply immersive in its fantasy."

Squadrons may not be an all-encompassing Stars Wars experience like Knights of the Old Republic or Fallen Order, but by all accounts it is very well done: in a recent preview, Wes described the game as "the flight sim we've been waiting for It will be available on Steam and Origin on October 2.