Star Wars: Squadrons is almost here and will bring with it optional support for a wide range of VR headsets. This article brings together many of the VR specific details about the game, like which headsets are supported, what comfort settings are available, and what the minimum and recommended specs are if you’re playing in VR.

Launching this week on October 2nd, Star Wars: Squadrons is a space dogfighting game with a single player story and 5v5 multiplayer modes. The entirety of the game is optionally playable in VR, if you’ve got the right system.

Which VR Headsets Does Star Wars: Squadrons Support?

Platform VR Support SteamVR/OpenVR Support Native Oculus Support
EA Origin (PC) Yes Yes
(Index, Vive, WMR, Rift S, Rift, Quest via Link, etc)		 Yes
(Rift S, Rift, Quest via Link)
Steam (PC) Yes Yes
(Index, Vive, WMR, Rift S, Rift, Quest via Link, etc)		 Unconfirmed*
Epic Games Store (PC) Yes Yes
(Index, Vive, WMR, Rift S, Rift, Quest via Link, etc)		 Yes
(Rift S, Rift, Quest via Link)
PlayStation 4 Yes
(PSVR)		 × ×
Xbox One No × ×

* we’re waiting to hear back from EA Motive for official confirmation on VR support on these details

Can You Play Star Wars: Squadrons on Oculus Quest?

Oculus Quest itself does not support Star Wars: Squadrons. However, if you have a VR-capable PC, you can plug your Quest into your PC via a USB 3 cable to play PC content, including Star Wars: Squadrons (this is known as Oculus Link). If you don’t already have a long USB 3 cable, here’s our affordable recommendation for an Oculus Link cable.

See the section below to find out if your PC meets the requirements for Star Wars: Squadrons in VR.

SEE ALSO
'Star Wars: Squadrons' Review – The New Top Gun of VR Dogfighters

What Are the Minimum Specs for Star Wars: Squadrons VR and Recommend Hardware Requirements?

If you’re playing Star Wars: Squadrons with a VR headset, these are the official minimum and recommended specs:

Minimum Recommended
Operating System Windows 10
Processor Ryzen 7 2700X / Core i7-7700
RAM 16GB
GPU Radeon RX 480 / GeForce GTX 1060
Radeon RX 570 / GeForce GTX 1070
Storage 40GB

Does Star Wars: Squadrons Support VR Motion Controls? What Flight Sticks Are Supported?

Image courtesy EA Motive

Unfortunately Star Wars: Squadrons does not support VR motion controllers like Oculus Touch, Valve Index controllers, Vive wands, or PS Move. Motion controllers also cannot be used simply as a gamepad to control the game.

Star Wars: Squadrons supports keyboard & mouse, gamepad, and HOTAS (flight sticks). EA Motive says it has tested the game with the following flight sticks (though a broader range may be compatible):

  • Saitek X52
  • Saitek X-55 Rhino
  • Thrustmaster T16000M
  • Logitech Extreme 3D Pro
  • Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas One (Xbox One)
  • Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas 4 (PS4)

What VR Comfort Options Are Available in Star Wars: Squadrons?

Image courtesy EA Motive

Star Wars: Squadrons is designed to be played seated and doesn’t have any locomotion beyond flying your ship around. Some cinematic sequences will have the player outside of their ship however. The following VR comfort options are available in Star Wars: Squadrons:

  • Smooth turn / Snap Turn
  • Snap turn angle setting (30 degrees by default)
  • FOV Filter (peripheral blinders) while turning
  • FOV Filter (peripheral blinders) strength

How to Enable VR in Star Wars: Squadrons

Since Squadrons is a VR-optional game, it may not show in your headset by default. To enable VR in Star Wars: Squadrons first launch your VR headset software (ie: Oculus desktop application or SteamVR).

After launching the game, open the in-game Settings and find the ‘Toggle VR’ option. This will transfer the game to your headset (you may need to hit a confirmation dialogue in your headset within a limited amount of time to prevent the game from reverting to your monitor).

Does Star Wars: Squadrons Support Cross-play between VR Headsets, non-VR, and Platforms?

Image courtesy EA Motive

Yes, Star Wars: Squadrons supports cross-play multiplayer between all platforms that the game is available on. You can play with your friends no matter which platform they’re playing on or which headset they’re using. VR and non-VR players also play together by default.

Can You Play Star Wars: Squadrons Without a HUD?

Image courtesy EA Motive

Yes although the game as a HUD, you can optionally disable it and rely purely on the in-cockpit instrumentation for maximum immersion.

Got more questions? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll track down the answers.

Update (October 5th, 2020): Corrected minimum specification for VR.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • DARKERDARK

    Star Wars: Squadrons
    PCVR not working with the oculus rift S

    Shame on EA and MOTIVE

    • zero80472

      Working fine for me

      • James Lockwood

        Where is the actual option to toggle VR on? I can hear the audio coming from my oculus s goggles, but all i see is the black/white generic software screen

        • Kirk Feathers

          (G) button on your keyboard I think. I had to launch in PC mode to fill in the EA login then it had an indicator offering VR mode… labeled with the G as shortcut…

          – (aka hyphen) to recenter display.

        • Adrian Meredith

          Its in game under vr settings. You can also start from steam in vr mode

    • tommys6

      User error.

    • Adrian Meredith

      It works fine via oculus link so no reason rift s doesn’t work

  • MosBen

    I’ve got all of the parts for a new PC except for the CPU. Waiting on AMD’s October 8 event for the next generation Ryzens. I’ll still be using my GTX 1070 for now, so it’s nice that it’s still not quite the minimum requirement for this.

    • asdf

      you should buy all your parts at once in case one doesnt work you knowe immediately and can return it. thats my 2 cents, you didnt ask but i gave

      • MosBen

        Well, too late, I suppose. But this was both because I didn’t have the money to buy them all at once and also because I got antsy and wanted to get the process started. By funny coincidence, though, Amazon accidentally sent me two motherboards, so I suppose that gives me some redundancy to make sure that my motherboard is functional before I send one of them back.

  • Do I have to have an EA Play/Origin/Access account in order to play the game.

    • tommys6

      No, its on steam.

      • kuhpunkt

        That doesn’t mean you don’t need an Origin account – which you need, as the Steam page clearly states.

    • exbagboy

      I had to login through EA Origin with my Steam copy. Also no native Oculus on Steam copy.

    • kuhpunkt

      Yes.

    • Shy Guy

      Yes, you do. Epic runs the Origin launcher to run the game. Steam apparently doesn’t but still needs an EA account linked to your Steam account to run it.

  • Jah Nix

    Comes with OpenVR from Steam. Not Native.
    Can anyone confirm no SteamVR from the Origin Store with a Rift S?

    • exbagboy

      Origin version has native oculus for my CV1.

      • Tjaard Pfitzner

        Do you know if the epic games version uses native Oculus vr?

        • exbagboy

          I don’t, I tried to find out but no one has confirmed anything.

          • Tjaard Pfitzner

            Yeah, little info about epic store version of the game. Thanks for your reply :)

  • Ragbone

    Does this work with the Game Genie?

  • unplayable for me in VR with oculus rift S. It’s like the frame rate is in 60 fps in the oculus.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsSquadrons/comments/j3cr9n/framerate_looks_like_half_of_what_it_actually_is/

  • Gabby

    Playable in Oculus Quest wirelessly via Virtual Desktop and SteamVR. Visuals are great!
    Now waiting for my Logitech Extreme 3D Pro so I don’t have to rely on my keyboard for controls.

    • ChasityRMcQueen

      Google is paying $192 for every single hour….. On Monday I have got my first Mercedes-AMG right after getting my biggest payout of $35475 for a week..(jz5)… It seems un-believable but you won’t forgive yourself if you do not check it (Select Option “Home” within it to get details)>>>>>>>>>www.ps4.cloud/dl/buzz88 ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★:::

  • Harris

    Not a fan of having to register with yet another company. If they won’t accept a Steam login, I don’t need to try it that badly. Elite:Dangerous still rocks.

    • Meow Mix

      the amount of account creation and issue for Elite on PC was so terrible, made it unplayable for me when the verification email never came for Elite account creation. I do not agree with you here.

  • Vandrel

    Works perfectly on my 5820k/RX 5700 system using a Rift CV1 and Saitek X56 through Steam.

  • david vincent

    40% negative reviews on Steam o_O
    From the bad reviews I read, the game has bad framerate (YMMV), is buggy, has clunky controls, is too arcadey… Yay…
    Well let’s go for a 2h demo anyway (just hoping my venerable FBB2 will work) and will go back to XW-Alliance VR and Elite…

    • John Pound

      Glass is half empty type of man I see…

      • david vincent

        40% empty to be exact

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Well, that’s why I normally don’t rely on the reviews.. As I expected it to be more arcade like than X-Wing.. And personally, I don’t mind, I like arcade, and thought the having to balance shield/weapons in X-wing was actually the lesser part of the game.

      • david vincent

        Well good for you… personally I like to have an idea before buying… Same for movies…

  • MW

    This game is unplayable in VR for me. It has very complicated control system – it’s just impossible to play when you don’t see the controller.
    Maybe some kind of joystick can work, but I will not be buying special hardware for one game.
    So good, but not VR, game.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      But this type of game IS especially for using special hardware (as in joysticks).. What were you expecting?

  • Fard Muhammad

    The game tells me to use numbered buttons on my Saitek X-52 HOTAS, but all the buttons on the actual stick are named after letters (aside from T1-T6). Is there a map between the numbered buttons and the letter buttons I’m using?

    • Shy Guy

      Yes, it’s quite frustrating. Elite used to do the same to me. “Press button 11”, which one’s that?
      If they’re not listed in your HOTAS manual, then the easiest way to find out is to type “Set up USB Game Controllers” into the windows search bar, and it should find a Control Panel with that name. Select that. Then pick your HOTAS from the list and click Properties. In the Test tab, it will show all your sticks and buttons, numbered. Then as you press them the numbered icon will light up, and then you know which number that button is. It would be nice if you could give the buttons names yourself, but I don’t know of a way to do so.

  • Mark Zemlin

    How to turn of the horrible blurry TAA?!

  • Isaias Avellaneda

    Is anyone else having an issuse when using VR mode? I keep holding the button to change my loadout in PvP and the SteamVR menu keeps poping out. Is there a way to fix this?

    • Shy Guy

      Holding the Select button on a controller is normally set to open the SteamVR Overlay.

      You can change this Overlay shortcut in the Steam settings under In-Game.

  • Shy Guy

    The Minimum Specs you list as Minimum (for VR) are actually the Minimum (non-VR) requirements listed on EA’s own site (except for the GPU). The Minimum VR specs they give are much closer to the recommended, especially for CPU and RAM.
    https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/squadrons/overview/pc-system-requirements

    • benz145

      Thanks for spotting this, it looks like there was a transcription error when they posted the requirements to the Steam store page. Fixing this now.

  • SKD007

    What about HP reverb G1 and G2?

    • Alan Harrington

      Says WMR, so yes

      • SKD007

        Coz they never mention the name hp reverb in this site when it comes to compatibility :/

        • benz145

          SteamVR supports all WMR (Windows Mixed Reality AKA Windows VR) headsets. G1 and G2 are WMR headsets.

  • mellott124

    Yeah, the bullshit Origin login requirement that pops up and I can barely read in VR. Common, this is 2020 please don’t do crap like this. I’ve had to shut down the game several times to come back out to login.

  • Paradox

    Do you NEED a VR headset to play this game or is it only a recommendation?

    • Alan Harrington

      Did you read the article?

    • david vincent

      RTFA

  • George Moonman

    If you buy on Epic Store it installs on Origin anyway, the VR toggle is inside the game, so all platforms support VR

  • Deji

    When I toggle to VR mode it says to hold – button to calibrate headset. But I have not such button, and it just get’s stuck there. :-(

    • Andrew Jakobs

      what platform, what headset.. You could ofcourse have been a bit more specific…

      • simon charteris

        i think deji is using the quest with virtual desktop im having the same problem no button to calibrate headset

        • guestguy

          – is right next to your 0 key

    • guestguy

      it’s the – button to the right of your 0 key

    • Caspar Eisermann

      On PSVR it is the “Options” button.

  • Caspar Eisermann

    I’m new to games and I’m using PSVR. Star Wars Squadron was great first, but it asked me to “scan” the object, but there was not button for “scan”, so I’m stuck. Thank you for a tip… I know, it is not the right forum for such questions.

    • Marc LeBlanc

      You will automatically scanned things if you are targeting them and close enough to them. You may need to have your reticule on them also.

  • Karl Kankel

    Thinking of buying oculus2 256GB for my kid and his PS4. He wants to play Star Wars Squadrons. Is this possible?

  • upsc coaching in indore

    Nice article and useful information shared thanks.