Even if you don't buy Battlefield Hardline's upcoming Getaway DLC (due out this month), you'll still get something new in the form of a new competitive mode, developer Visceral Games announced this week.

　　The new competitive option is called Competitive Match system, and it will offer multi-week seasons of 5v5 matches. From the announcement:

　　"It opens up the ability to compete in skill-based 5v5 matches, with regularly refreshed seasons, leaderboards, and winners. In Competitive Match, play is organized into two to three week-long seasons; each season features a themed map/mode rotation created by Visceral. You can play solo or with a squad (console only), and you will be matched against players of similar skill. Do well, and your Skill Rating will go up. Do poorly, and… yeah, it'll go down."

　　Players' skill rating will be recalculated after every match--ranging from Cadet to Elite Gold Captain. As seasons progress, the best players will be pushed to the top, with the competition getting more intense as it goes along. When a season concludes, the top 5 players will get an "exclusive upgrade to their kill card."

　　The No. 1 player, meanwhile, will be "celebrated for all to see," though Visceral didn't say more.

　　Hardline's Competitive Match mode will be divided into two leagues: a Standard league for all players and a Premium League for people who have purchased the game's Premium pass. This league features all of the maps and modes from the base game, as well as expansion pass content. Visceral adds that players can participate in both leagues.

　　The Competitive Match mode comes to Hardline when Getaway arrives later this month. Among other things, it includes four new maps. All players, even if they don't pay, get a series of new guns as part of the update that introduces Getaway, though these have not been specified yet.

　　Getaway is Hardline's third expansion. It follows Criminal Activity and Robbery, both of which were released last year. The final expansion, Betrayal, is coming later this year.

　　Looking further out, a new, military-themed Battlefield is coming this year. According to DICE producer Patrick Bach, the game will contain "More features. More extras. More destruction."