With Star Wars Battlefront 2, EA has once again ventured into the dirty realms of loot boxes and thus into the dark side of the Force. This has drawn the wrath of some fans. Enough reason for a petition to prompt Disney to revoke EA’s license for Star Wars!
It all began in 2013, when Disney and EA negotiated a deal: For a full 10 years, EA would hold the exclusive license for video games of the powerful franchise. As the children of this union, titles such as the Battlefront series emerged. The latest addition, Battlefront 2, is particularly unpopular.
What has happened so far
- After the controversial and heated discussions surrounding loot boxes in MMOs, Belgium’s Gambling Commission also demanded a Europe-wide ban.
- Players hate Battlefront 2, as the ratings on Metacritic suggest.
- Allegedly, Disney is extremely concerned about its reputation, which is why Disney supposedly called EA and reprimanded them.
- The developers ventured onto Reddit into the lion’s den and faced an open Q&A – the results of which were not received very positively.
- The sales figures of Battlefront 2 have the publisher sweating: Sales are up to 60% lower than the predecessor.
- The value of EA has fallen by $3 billion after Star Wars Battlefront 2
The fans have a baaad feeling about this…
Meanwhile, EA has softened many aspects – for now. It no longer takes 40 hours to unlock Vader alone, and loot boxes have been mostly removed. Yet many still do not like the game: They find it not balanced enough, struggle with the gameplay, or feel that the soul of Star Wars is not captured properly.
Thus, Brit John Hunt created the petition for revoking the license three weeks ago – and people are signing it online like crazy!
On to the Breath! On to the petition!
Hunt likely hopes for a clause that allows Disney/Lucasfilm an early exit from the contract if the Star Wars brand is severely compromised. He writes:
Lucasfilm, if you cannot or do not want to see that EA is seriously abusing and damaging the Star Wars brand, you are part of the problem. The longer you remain partnered with EA and work together with them, the more your famous brand will suffer. Do the right thing, act in the interest of your customers – end this nonsense once and for all and give the brand to a developer studio that treats Star Wars with respect and care. Because if the last 4 years have shown us anything, it is that EA does not care about any of these things… [John Hunt via Change.org]
The petition is immensely popular: With up to 100,000 signatures [As of: December 3, 2017], it will not be long. Currently, the petition stands at 96,282!
Whether the authorities will be impressed and whether EA will actually have its license revoked remains to be seen. Either way, a clear point is being made, an exclamation mark from the fans that can likely have more impact than the solitary whining in the living room.
