Game

Star Wars: Squadrons

2020

Insufficient evidence

We did not find enough credible, independent evidence to publish a numeric cash-grab score. Unrated is more honest than a guess.

What counts as a cash grab?

Commercial extraction prioritized over meaningful consumer or creative value. Profit, popularity, adaptations, sequels, remakes, high budgets, and normal marketing do not count by themselves.

Why?

Contemporary primary sources and independent reviews do not show credible evidence that Star Wars: Squadrons (2020) was a commercial extraction designed as a cash grab. EA and Motive explicitly stated the game had no microtransactions and that progression and cosmetics are earned through play, the game launched at $39.99 as a complete single-player and multiplayer package, and multiple free post-launch updates added new maps and two starfighters. Reviews praised the core flight design and noted the absence of predatory monetization, while there is no authoritative reporting of deceptive release or pay-first practices.

EA and Motive publicly stated there would be zero microtransactions and a non-live-service design.
Progression and cosmetics are documented by EA as earned only through play, not paid currency.
The game launched as a full $39.99 product with campaign and multiplayer, not a stripped base sold to upsell.

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Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
Against	Official no-microtransactions pledge	Motive and EA publicly stated Star Wars: Squadrons would contain no microtransactions and was not built as a live-service game.[3][2]	-14
Against	Progression and cosmetics earned in-game	EA documentation describes two in-game currencies, Glory and Requisition, that are earned through gameplay to unlock cosmetics and components respectively, with a clear progression path.[2][1]	-12
Against	Full game at a modest launch price	Official marketing and press materials list the launch price at $39.99 and present Squadrons as a complete product including single-player campaign and multiplayer.[1][8]	-9
Against	Free post-launch updates added substantive content	EA deployed free updates after launch that added a new map, custom matches, and two new playable starfighters, the B-Wing and the TIE Defender.[5][1][4]	-14
Against	Independent reviews note lack of predatory monetization	Major reviews and critic roundups highlight the core flight combat as the game's strength and explicitly note the game is free from microtransactions.[7][6]	-10

Confidence: Low · No source-backed commercial-extraction signal was found. · Researched 2026-07-23

Sources reviewed

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