EA Temporarily Kills Star Wars Battlefront II Microtransactions Amid Intense Community Backlash
The Internet community has been heard "loud and clear" in regards to microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II, publisher Electronic Arts said in a statement. Of course, EA would either to be deaf or have its head stuck so far up its backside that all outside noise is effectively drowned out, to avoid hearing the uproar in-game purchases and the money (or time) required to unlock premium characters such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Regardless, EA heard the complaints, and has disabled micrtotransactions in Battlefront II as it scrambles to figure out an amicable compromise.
"Our goal has always been to create the best possible game for all of you—devoted Star Wars fans and game players alike. We've also had an ongoing commitment to constantly listen, tune and evolve the experience as it grows... It's clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design," Electronic Arts said in a statement. "We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right. We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases."
The issue of microtransactions has been a maddening one for gamers for quite some time now, and things boiled over when a Battlefront II player complained on Reddit at having spent $80 on the game (presumably the Deluxe Version), only to find that Darth Vader was still locked.
"This is a joke. I'll be contacting EA support for a refund," wrote MBMMaverick. "I can't even playing f**king Darth Vader?!?!? Disgusting. This age of 'micro-transactions' has gone WAY too far. Leave it to EA though to stretch the boundaries," the user wrote.
Initially, unlocking Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker required 60,000 credits, only a third of which players would receive for completing the main campaign. For the average gamer, it would take around 40 hours to earn enough credits to unlock one of the premium characters. Such a lengthy time commitment encourages microtransactions.
NSFW Video (Language):
EA responded to the post, justifying its position by saying its intent was to "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes." Outraged by EA's reasoning, the response received more than 664,000 downvotes, the most ever, after which EA reduced the amount of credits required to unlock heroes. However, EA also decided to reduce the amount of credits rewarded for completing the campaign to just 5,000 credits,
None of this has sat well with Battlefront II players, so EA has turned off microtransactions altogether. Unfortunately, as it stands, this is only temporary as EA tries to figure out a formula that will generate additional cash from players, without ticking them off so badly.
"We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this," EA added.
Good luck with that, EA.
"Our goal has always been to create the best possible game for all of you—devoted Star Wars fans and game players alike. We've also had an ongoing commitment to constantly listen, tune and evolve the experience as it grows... It's clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design," Electronic Arts said in a statement. "We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right. We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases."
The issue of microtransactions has been a maddening one for gamers for quite some time now, and things boiled over when a Battlefront II player complained on Reddit at having spent $80 on the game (presumably the Deluxe Version), only to find that Darth Vader was still locked.
"This is a joke. I'll be contacting EA support for a refund," wrote MBMMaverick. "I can't even playing f**king Darth Vader?!?!? Disgusting. This age of 'micro-transactions' has gone WAY too far. Leave it to EA though to stretch the boundaries," the user wrote.
Initially, unlocking Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker required 60,000 credits, only a third of which players would receive for completing the main campaign. For the average gamer, it would take around 40 hours to earn enough credits to unlock one of the premium characters. Such a lengthy time commitment encourages microtransactions.
NSFW Video (Language):
EA responded to the post, justifying its position by saying its intent was to "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes." Outraged by EA's reasoning, the response received more than 664,000 downvotes, the most ever, after which EA reduced the amount of credits required to unlock heroes. However, EA also decided to reduce the amount of credits rewarded for completing the campaign to just 5,000 credits,
None of this has sat well with Battlefront II players, so EA has turned off microtransactions altogether. Unfortunately, as it stands, this is only temporary as EA tries to figure out a formula that will generate additional cash from players, without ticking them off so badly.
"We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this," EA added.
Good luck with that, EA.
