Wow. I’m not really sure what else to say.
Tonight, there were rumblings that
Star Wars Battlefront 2 had taken away the ability to purchase crystals, which in turn can buy loot boxes, on the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions of the game, just hours before its global launch. It could have been an error, but DICE quickly came out with a statement to say that it was not.
Here’s DICE GM Oskar Gabrielson, who published this
in a blog post tonight:
“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. You’ve seen this with both the major adjustments, and polish, we have made over the past several weeks.
But as we approach the worldwide launch, it's clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. 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. 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.”
This is the culmination of a week of absolutely brutal headlines for EA, DICE and
Battlefront 2 (a few written by yours truly) as fans protested a large number of problems with the game’s progression system including it being:
- Tied to randomized loot boxes
- Full of high-cost, ultra-grindy unlocks
- Full of Star Cards that give significant power advantages
- In a game where credit earning is capped in arcade play
- More or less entirely based around getting people to buy loot boxes for clear advantages
With this move, at least one aspect of this has been taken out of the equation. The Star Card system may still exist, and is full of upgrades that still seem unwise like flat damage, fire rate and health increases, but as of this time, you can no longer buy these upgrades for real-world cash, leveling the playing field at least somewhat.
EA
Earlier today, I wrote about the
“emergency heart surgery” Battlefront 2 needed to save it, which included stripped the loot box progression system out of the game entirely and reworking it from scratch. That may not happen, but even still, the step of removing microtransactions from the game just hours before its worldwide launch is unprecedented, and I’m frankly astonished that EA/DICE took this drastic of a step so late in the game. Yes, they were tweaking prices and things as recently as a few days ago, but this, eliminating the central monetization mechanic of the game, is something else entirely. This is just unbelievable.
What this does
not necessarily mean is that microtransactions will be gone forever. It seems absolutely possible that they will end up returning to the game once DICE has figured out how exactly to reduce the grind or lower the cost of these boxes. It is also no guarantee that larger reworks are coming, like the elimination of the loot box progression system altogether, though if DICE is willing to go this far, I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point. This feels like a “
Diablo 3kills the Auction House” moment or “Xbox One changes all its policies” type of event. A truly monumental shift, and one spurred almost entirely by relentless fan pushback and anger.
I guess part of me wants to give EA and DICE props for this, but above all else, it reinforces just what a total mess this launch has been. To do something this drastic this late only indicates that the game was wildly undertested, and the microtransaction idea was a terrible one that should have never made its way into the game in the first place.
I have no idea where
Star Wars Battlefront 2 will go from here. A loot box progression system is still not ideal even
without the microtransaction component, but I have to believe we’ll hear some more info in the next day or two once everyone is done scrambling. This really is unprecedented, so grab your popcorn, and wait to see what happens next.
Update: From
VentureBeat, an indication that Disney might have gotten directly involved with the
Battlefront 2 firestorm, and sparked this move:
"Earlier today, Electronic Arts chief executive officer Andrew Wilson had a phone call with The Walt Disney Company chief executive Bob Iger about
Star Wars: Battlefront II, according to sources familiar with the situation. A few hours after that call, and players are finding that the option to purchase the premium crystals currency is no longer working."
