You’re likely already aware of the crappy week EA had with what was going to be their biggest game of 2017, Star Wars: Battlefront 2. If you aren’t we’ll give you a brief rundown. It all started when players got their hands on the game through EA Access last week. Players noticed that the “Heros” in the game (playable characters like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, etc.) were locked and had to be unlocked through in-game credits. Fair enough, right? Not really.
The characters cost an insane amount of credits that would require dozens of hours of play to unlock. The only way to speed this up was through the use of microtransactions to buy more credits. Players became furious and threatened to boycott the game. After a series of poorly handled PR communications, EA died on the hill they chose to fight on and pulled all microtransactions from the game but they’re allegedly going to return.
Now EA has told investors that the lack of microtransactions won’t affect how much the company brings in.
“On November 16, 2017, Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”) announced in a blog on its website at www.ea.com/news that it will turn off all in-game purchases for the Star Wars Battlefront II title until further notice,” said the statement, along with the original press release issued by EA’s Jacob J. Schatz. “This change is not expected to have a material impact on EA’s fiscal year 2018 financial guidance.”
This has lead to many fans question as to why they chose to include microtransactions in the first place if it’s not going to make a dent in their financials. The whole idea of microtransactions is to offset the cost of expensive games and also make some extra money well after the game has released. If it’s not doing much to help them in the long run, why do it? We’re all here left to scratch our heads at this comment.
Maybe EA will pull the microtransactions permanently if fans cry out louder after hearing this statement. One thing we can learn from this whole controversy is that your voice is heard if you’re vocal enough and choose to vote with your wallet.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is out now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
[PC Gamer]
