Fans considering to pre-order the Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition should better ask themselves if the highly steep $110 and $120 price points on PC and consoles respectively are worth it.
Beyond an early access to the game which in all fairness can be skipped, there comes the matter of content. Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition features four skin bundles and the Year One battle pass which covers all four seasons and their four specialists. There are also other cosmetics to obtain by pre-ordering.
The mention of a Year One battle pass however will naturally have players wondering if non-owners of the Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition will be locked out of any worthwhile content. The notion naturally excludes cosmetics since not being able to access a new multiplayer map or a new multiplayer game mode warrants more concern than not being able to don new fatigues.
According to developer DICE, Battlefield 2042 will be a live service game and receive both free and premium battle passes for every season. That comes to four battle passes for four seasons in the first year which means that each battle pass will be split between free and premium content.
DICE however has confirmed that a premium (or paid-for) battle pass will only contain cosmetics. Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition hence becomes a worthy purchase for only players interested in cosmetics. The actual content, such as a new specialist and a new multiplayer story chapter with each season, will never be locked behind a pay-wall. Pure progression will allow players to level up their for-free battle pass and unlock new specialists for example.
Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition should not be seen as exclusive access to content. The expensive edition will just make it easier for players to gain access to most of the premium skins that get released as part of Year One.
That being said, DICE has not clarified just how players will be able to unlock new specialists. Since specialists feature unique gadgets but within their class-type purpose, it would be unlikely for DICE to lock new specialists behind a pay-wall. While players will most probably be able to purchase specialists to unlock them quicker, they can always put in progression hours to unlock them the old fashioned way.
Battlefield 2042 officially launches for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC on October 22, 2021. Those on a tight budget should just pre-order the base game for $60, or $70 in the case of the new consoles.
