The game developer Electronic Arts (EA) is now in the Guinness World Records. They hold the record for the “Reddit post with the most downvotes.” The comment appeared in November 2017 during the PR nightmare surrounding loot boxes in “Star Wars Battlefront 2” with the legendary phrase about “Pride and Accomplishment.”
What is this world record? It is the world record for the comment with the most downvotes on Reddit.
A comment from the EA Community Team on November 1, 2017 received 683,000 downvotes.
This was the comment: It was about loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2, which were heavily criticized (via reddit).
The EA Community Team posted back then:
“The intention is to give players a sense of pride and accomplishment when they unlock the different heroes.”
Following this statement, several other remarks were made. But it was precisely the “sense of pride and accomplishment” that ignited the fans’ anger.
40 hours for Vader or reach for the wallet
What’s behind this: At that time, it was about the enormous effort required to unlock legendary heroes and villains in Star Wars Battlefront 2. It was said to take around 40 hours to earn Darth Vader.
- Players could either really “grind” for a long time to unlock these heroes
- Or they took the shortcut and bought loot boxes
You could only play as the heroes and villains once you were successful enough in a match with a regular foot soldier.
Players felt: EA wants to make money. Everyone should be able to play Darth Vader, as he is simply part of Star Wars.
But EA said: We want you to make an effort if you want to play these heroes.
The fans perceived this at the time as a pretext to obscure the actual reasons (profit).
Looks like a record for eternity
How strong is this world record? The lead over the second-placed comment is enormous. According to a list on reddit, the comment with the second most downvotes only has 89,000 – much less than the 683,000 that EA achieved.
The comment with the 89,000 downvotes wasn’t even a special faux pas, as it solicited downvotes to balance things out. A Thanos thing.
How is Battlefront 2 doing today? The shitstorm over the loot boxes has long since passed. EA pulled the emergency brake back then and removed them from the game. Allegedly, the holder of the Star Wars license, Disney, intervened, when “non-gaming” media started reporting on the case.
EA’s stock value dropped by 3 billion dollars in November 2017 due to the fiasco surrounding Battlefront 2.
In recent months and years, however, the sentiment around Star Wars Battlefront 2 has significantly improved.
