Star Wars: Squadrons will be available with HOTAS Setup

Star Wars: Squadrons is the forthcoming air to air combat game from a far distant galaxy by EA. It will provide VR support as it releases in the fall on consoles and PCs.

The game is expected to support Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Valve Index. The lists only support for the traditional gamepad, or keyboard and mouse on Desktop, according to its Steam site.

When PC gaming was new, joysticks were common hardware, and not only flight simulators, old Sierra adventure games even had joystick inputs. But the introduction of the FPS and RTS styles gave primacy to the keyboard. It operates well enough in gameplay like Star Wars Battlefront, with simplified 6DOF flight models, but it’s not the same thing.

HOTAS stands for “hands-on the throttle and the stick”. A design concept that allows pilots to access the primary tasks of their planes without actually taking their hands off of the primary controls.

Well hey, double checked and apparently I AM allowed to tell you that without being tackled by PR!

Yes, we fully support joystick on PC, including full HOTAS rigs with a throttle. 🙂

— Ian S. Frazier (@tibermoon) June 16, 2020

If you can see above, this has been reported by the artistic director of the game, Ian Frazier, on Twitter this week.

HOTAS setups will bring realism to flight sim games. Frazier, however, remained short of saying that HOTAS assistance will also appear on consoles. In theory, HOTAS setups are also available for both the PS4 and Xbox One. Though, it remains to be seen whether this game will support them.

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Also, in the game’s FAQ, EA has mentioned that both joysticks and hands-on throttle-and-sticks (HOTAS) will also be backed outside the gamepad and keyboard/mouse. The studio says it will provide more information about the sponsored sticks closer to its release on October 2nd.

Currently, support for PC HOTAS is guaranteed but the verdict is on consoles. Frazier states that more details about preparations for HOTAS will come later. And now, realizing that your system can operate for VR, for cross-play help, you should feel confident.