Exterminauts Will Let You Earn Its Battle Pass Just by Playing
Behaviour Interactive has a message for anyone tired of paying extra after buying a game: the battle passes in its upcoming shooter Exterminauts can be earned entirely through play, with payment purely optional.
Speaking to GameSpot at Gamescom 2026, creative director Vincent Regimbald laid out how the live content — the seasons, cosmetics and updates that keep a game fresh after launch — will work. The first wave arrives roughly a month after Exterminauts ships. From there, players cycle through what Regimbald called "short Warbond-like" battle passes, each running about six weeks. (A Warbond is simply a battle pass by another name: a tiered track of rewards you unlock by playing.)
Here is the part that turns heads. In-game currency needed to unlock these passes can be earned through daily and weekly objectives. A player who puts in the time never has to spend a cent beyond the base game. Those who would rather skip the grind can pay — but payment is a shortcut, not a gate.
Exterminauts is a third-person co-op PvE shooter — a game where a squad of human players fights together against computer-controlled enemies, not other people. Behaviour Interactive, the studio behind the asymmetrical horror hit Dead by Daylight, describes it as blending the blue-collar energy of Ghostbusters with the insect-blasting spectacle of Starship Troopers. It was unveiled jointly by Behaviour Interactive, Level Infinite and Shooter Creative as a sci-fi squad shooter at Gamescom's Opening Night Live on 25 August 2026, according to Dexerto. The game launches in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The battle passes will offer new cosmetics and weapons, generally obtainable through regular play. Mods — modifications that tweak how a weapon behaves — follow the same earn-through-play route. They can add elemental damage, instant reload, or extra critical hit damage, and can be combined with gadgets and special weapons for layered effects.
Players also pick from emblems and badges, which are passive abilities that function like character classes or playstyles. One emblem, focused on ice damage, lets players freeze enemies and then shoot them for area-of-effect damage — meaning the frozen target explodes outward, hitting anything nearby. Other emblems centre on gadgets or healing, letting squads build around different roles.
The structure invites comparisons to Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios' 2024 co-op shooter, which also let players unlock its battle passes through gameplay rather than forcing a separate purchase each season. Behaviour's approach follows that same philosophy: keep players in the game by rewarding time spent, not money spent.
For a studio best known for Dead by Daylight — a live-service game (one sold and updated in seasons after launch) that has run for nearly a decade — the pivot to a co-op shooter is a significant creative leap. Behaviour was admitted to the Platinum Club of Canada's Best Managed Companies on 14 May 2026, per Behaviour Interactive, a recognition of sustained business performance. Exterminauts will be a test of whether that operational discipline translates to a new genre.
The pitch to players, though, is simpler than any corporate milestone. Show up, play the game, get the rewards. The rest is optional.
