Publisher Electronic Arts has confirmed that it will offer free downloadable content as an incentive to purchase DICE’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 upon its release in early March.

New copies of the shooter, which will be released on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, will contain a once off VIP code which can be redeemed to unlock free downloads of new maps on launch day as well as other future content.

“We want people to insert the code they get when they buy the game to get access to [DLC content],” commented senior producer Patrick Bach recently.

“It’s connected to your personal account, more or less, and what we want to do is give you something extra, added value, for that. In the future you will get more content, for free, if you have this.”

EA appears to be applying the approach of offering free DLC upon launch to a number of its games including Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 and The Saboteur.