It looks like an insider has revealed new details around why EA decided to pull the plug on microtransactions and how they plan on re-implementing them later this year.
According to an EA insider known as kravguy on Reddit (he posted about the pulling of microtransactions before it happened), Disney threated EA will pulling their exclusivity deal with them on the Star Wars franchise over the bad press surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s in-game purchases.
Originally, Disney had approved of the way EA decided to capitalize on the franchise, but the community backlash, the negative press and EA’s delay in resolving the issue upset them. In addition to that, Disney has a strong stance against gambling and the game is being investigated by the Belgian Gaming Commission as to whether the game’s loot crates qualify as gambling, which upset them further.
After EA spoke with Disney, the game publisher decided to temporarily pull the in-game purchase options from Battlefront 2, with the expectation of re-introducing them into the game at a later date. According to Kravguy, EA is tossing around two ideas for how they will bring them back:
- Micro-transactions will be cosmetic ONLY. This is the less popular option, and really the only way this option will be implemented is if community outcry is both loud enough and sustained. If they CAN get away with it, they’ll try like hell too.
- Microtransactions will be used to purchase specific star card and cosmetic packages/bundles. This is so that technically the gambling aspect is removed from multiplayer.
In addition to this, there is a new microtransaction that will be added to the game that was decided before all the drama. Kravguy details these as “Boosters.” Players will be able to purchase Boosters for experience points, credits and more.
The microtransactions will allegedly be added after (or around) the release of The Last Jedi and Christmas.
If you’re unfamiliar with the drama around Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the game has been facing serious backlash over locked content and the push to purchase loot boxes with real money in order to progress in the game. The backlash was so fierce that EA cut the cost of heroes in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 by 75%, as well as cut the campaign credit payout by 75%.
This all came to light after the EA Access 10-hour trial revealed that the top heroes were locked behind 40 hours of play each.
