In an announcement that has come as a surprise to ….no gamer ever, EA have announced that Premium will be available for upcoming Cops’n’Robbers Sim, Battlefield Hardline.
If you are one of the rare few unfamiliar with the product, Premium is a mainstay of the Battlefield Series. It is essentially a Season Pass with added extra bonuses. It gives you all the DLC map packs as they are released (often early) and has generally provided other perks such as priority access to servers and shiny weapon skins etc.
As expected, the fundamental benefit of Premium membership will be four expansion packs. These will include new multiplayer maps, game modes, and new in-game content (such as vehicles). For Hardline, each will be given a theme which have been announced as; Criminal Activity, Robbery, Getaway and Betrayal. Hardline Premium will also give early access to each of these expansions.
A much more contentious inclusion is that Premium will apparently provide masks, that will provide stat boosts when equipped. Lets hope this is a minimal effect and not the first steps towards a ‘Pay to Win’ model…
You will also be able to ‘prestige’ up and reset your progression tree.
Anyway, Battlefield Hardline Premium will be available when the game launches and will cost $49.99 / £39.99.
Here is the full list of Premium features:
• Four digital expansion packs featuring new multiplayer maps, modes, vehicles, in-game content and a story themed throughout all four:
• Criminal Activity – Play for reputation in these fast, highly-destructible new maps littered with small-time crime jobs. Available summer 2015.
• Robbery – Take down the opposition head on and progress through key locations with major cinematic action. Available summer 2015.
• Getaway – Frantic, high-speed chases that immerse players deeper into the heists. Available Autumn 2015.
• Betrayal – There is a rat in every operation and players will have to find out who to trust. Available winter/early 2016.
• Two weeks’ early access to all expansion packs.
• Priority position in server queues
• Masks – Premium-only Masks that will provide in-game perks and boosts.
• Gun Bench – Allows you to customise weapons and track kills per weapon.
• Competitive Play – Support for competitive play through Battlefield Hardline Premium-access only tournaments and ladders.
• Legendary Status – Much like Prestige in CoD, this allows players to reset and replay the entire progression system.
• 12 Gold Battlepacks.
• Premium-only skins and other personalisation options including gun camos, ammo skins, etc
• Access to double-XP, in-game missions, and more Battlefield Hardline Premium exclusive events.
Many of these are the features we have come to know and love. But one or two provide me with slight concern. I’m not overly happy about the concept of paying for better stats via masks… but I hope these are just available to all in game and the Premium Specific ones don’t give anything too much ahead of in-game alternatives. Likewise the gun bench sounds a lot like what has been traditionally free in the Battlelog, but I’m sure this will become clear once the game is released.
Anyone sold on Premium yet, or are you all going to wait and see?
^HooksaN (@HooksaN)
David Hook (HooksaN) contributed 26 articles to ICXM between 2014–2015, covering game reviews, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming. They post on X as @Hooksan.