Battlefront 2 faced heavy criticism from players because the entire gameplay progression was based on loot boxes. These boxes were also available for real money and contained gameplay-relevant features. Now EA is backing down and removing the microtransactions from the game.
Star Wars Battlefront II recently caused a massive backlash. The reason was the controversial loot boxes. With them and a lot of effort, players could unlock Star Cards in the game and become stronger.
However, those who did not want to grind for long – it is said to take over 4,000 hours to unlock everything – could conveniently buy the boxes with real money through microtransactions.
This brought players to arms, as they suspected Pay2Win behind the boxes and complained that such microtransactions have no place in a full-price game.
EA backs down, no microtransactions at launch
The whole mess escalated further, and an investigation was already initiated in Belgium. This is to examine whether the RNG loot boxes might constitute illegal gambling.
Today, we turned off in-game purchases for #StarWarsBattlefrontII. The game is built on your input, and it will continue to evolve and grow. Read the full update: https://t.co/asGASaYXVp pic.twitter.com/vQSOmsWRgk
— EAStarWars (@EAStarWars) November 17, 2017
In the end, all of this was probably too much for EA, and they decided to simply remove the microtransactions from the game on the day of the release of Battlefront 2! And that just hours before the official release.
In a statement from developer DICE on Twitter, it says that they listened to the players’ criticism and will therefore remove the crystals – the real money currency – from the game.
Will microtransactions return after Christmas?
So did the opponents of loot boxes and microtransactions win? Not really, because in the DICE statement, it was also said that they want to thoroughly adjust and balance the game first and then reintroduce the microtransactions at a later point.
This immediately stirred up the community’s anger again. A thread emerged on Reddit warning that one should not give in to EA now and buy the game. Because after Christmas, the transactions will come back, and EA just wants to save the Christmas business.
If you really want to hurt the company and thereby persuade them to change their mind, one should also not buy Battlefront 2 now! The thread had already received over 150,000 upvotes at the time of this news …
The latest developments on the topic: Disney is said to have contacted EA regarding Star Wars Battlefront 2…
