If there’s a game this year that’s been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s Battlefront 2. In its defense, EA dropping the season pass was met positively by series fans who saw it as a necessity to stop dividing playerbases. However, the more cynical of us knew that lost money would have to be made up elsewhere.
To say that Battlefront II’s microtransactions have caused controversy would be undercooking it somewhat. Since its open beta, concerns have been heard loud and clear about the grind required to get ahead within the game with certain Star Cards possibly giving other players an unfair advantage should they want to dip into their wallet for more credits.
It has been in the last 24 hours, however, when the friction between EA and Battlefront fans has become as fiery as Anakin’s beach photos pre-Vaderisation in Revenge of the Sith. In short, EA have been having a bad time of it, earning the unwanted distinction of having the most downvoted comment in Reddit history and souring more and more gamers on the game.
The outrage ties into the reveal of the way the game ties its progression system to time played, rather than skill. Early estimates believe that it could take up 40 hours to unlock a single illustrious hero such as Vader or Luke and, when you combine that with microtransactions speeding up what is a laborious process, gives off the worst kind of impression about EA’s long-term goals with the game.
In full-on damage control, EA have taken to their blog to announce some changes are coming to unlock levels for heroes. Written by John Wasilczyk, Executive Producer at DICE, the blog post promises that changes will be constantly rolled out throughout the game’s lifespan:
“…we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits. Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players.”
That’s a huge change and one that will probably soothe some anger, but it’s another example of a publisher pushing their luck and seeing how far they can take it. It’s unfortunate for EA that they took it way post the point and made some unwanted history in the process.
The biggest takewaway from all of this is that anti-consumer practices in the industry can be changed, just as long as the consumers themselves speak out against them. That being said, microtransactions that fundamentally alter the gameplay experience shouldn’t be in to begin with, but one battle at a time.
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