EA: AN UPDATE ON STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II (No Microtransactions at launch, will return at later date in modified form)

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/pre-launch-update?utm_campaign=swbf2_hd_na_ic_soco_twt_swbfii-prelaunchblog-tw&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cid=42029&ts=1510882077024

Thank you to everyone in our community for being the passionate fans that you are.

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.

We have created a game that is built on your input, and it will continue to evolve and grow. Star Wars Battlefront II is three times the size of the previous game, bringing to life a brand new Star Wars story, space battles, epic new multiplayer experiences across all three Star Wars eras, with more free content to come. We want you to enjoy it, so please keep your thoughts coming. And we will keep you updated on our progress.

? EA got REKT! So they are temporarily removing microtransactions at launch as they figure out a way to fix it to the point it becomes fair and doesn't affect gameplay. They weren't expecting this level of backlash and hopefully this will be a lesson to the other greedy douchebags like Ubisoft, Blizzard, etc. Go too far with microtransactions? Prepare to get totally rekt by angry gamers.

holy shit, the backlash worked.

I guess DISNEY got a hold of EA too.

the bad press did work!

hurray!

lol @ 0.9.. never seen a score drop below 1

Good to hear because

Unlocking All Star Wars Battlefront 2 Content Takes 4,528 Hours or $2100

I forget what site it was, but they spent like 200 dollars to see if they could unlock a character and after all that money was spend they actually ended up not even being able to afford it.

what a shitty practice, glad this happened to EA.

@FLOPPAGE_50 said:

holy shit, the backlash worked.

I guess DISNEY got a hold of EA too.

the bad press did work!

hurray!

lol @ 0.9.. never seen a score drop below 1

ROFL at the user score. Damn. Gamers can get savage when you set them off.

Yeah, kinda early to celebrate if they're coming back at some point.

Lol.

So it's "Just buy the damn game, we'll put microtransactions back in once you've clocked too many hours for a refund."

That's a PR move. Now more people may buy the game, some perhaps thinking that Microtransactions are gone forever. Researching isn't a lot of people's mind. Money talks and they're afraid of losing some. Either they're seeing a huge amount of pre-order cancellations and refund requests. Or EA is pissing themselves because all this noise is grabbing the attention of government regulators like what happened in Belgium yesterday. Or Disney themselves stepped in since it is their property after all.

I really hope EA isn't gonna do the same to Anthem cause it's on my radar and to Bioware, don't let EA fucks you up on Anthem.

I agree with the PR move, people who were pissed at EA will probably cave now, thinking EA will remove them eventually.

It's still EA, the greed is still there.

Very interesting. I heard they were losing a shitload of preorders, surprised it was enough to actually drop microtransactions, even if it's only temporary.

Curious to see what this changes long term for other titles. EA are still scum of the earth and will try to milk whatever they can. Maybe they'll actually rein it in for a while and keep things cosmetic? Least until other people start getting away with pay-to-win in full priced games.

Still not buying this. Way too late to sway me back over. EA can suck my nards.

@FLOPPAGE_50 said:

holy shit, the backlash worked.

I guess DISNEY got a hold of EA too.

the bad press did work!

hurray!

lol @ 0.9.. never seen a score drop below 1

? Savage!

Wow, Disney must have seen this and gave EA a call.

I think the most motivating factor for EA doing this was that even investors on Wall Street were being pessimistic on the game’s financial outlook.

@FLOPPAGE_50: I was really ready to buy Battlefront 2 on PC but since EA got so damn greedy, I'll just wait until it's free on EA Origin and plus, I'm playing wolfenstein 2 & Overwatch for the time being.

The whole Belgium situation has put the wind up their ass.

Wouldn't look good to parents buying their kids a game that promotes gambling lol.

I'm done with buying EA games and I hope they receive a whole lot more backlash over this shady bullshit.

I got it for $30 because a friend paid off some of it for me so I can play with him online.

It's a good game if you ignore the micotransactions, way better than SWBF1. Makes it all the more baffling why EA allowed their greed to ruin the good thing they had going with this game. This game is guaranteed to sell a lot being a Star Wars game. They could have just kept a store and allowed people to buy cosmetic items. Knowing Star Wars fans they would have made a killing off selling cosmetic items. EA are a bunch of idiots, this fail of theirs will go down in history as a warning to all the greedy asshole publishers about what happens when they try to screw their customers.

@quadknight: I doubt Disney had anything to do with it, they are responsible for canceling 1313 and I believe 3-4 more Star Wars games that looked really good (like the Darth Maul game), they also canceled Clone Wars which is the best Star Wars movie or show.

me three

I see but I can't imagine they are too happy with the negative press this game is getting even on mainstream news websites.

@sancho_panzer: I love Faith No More!

With Disney about to release their new movie i bet they are not happy with the bad taste SWBFII is leaving.

So, they remove the element that people were bitching about, delayed the inclusion of micro-transactions and gamers still whining and pretending to be the victim. Hilarious. If it was a specific publisher/company there would be so much praise passing around.

Well done gaming community. There was a large enough unified backlash. And good on EA for admitting the got it wrong and altering it. It's really easy to point fingers and bash as if you walk on water. I respect them for doing the right thing.

I've heard nothing about positive stuff about the gameplay, the entire negativty is all about the progression/unlocking system.

I liked SWBF1, it was a good game but the lack of content really killed it for me and i only put in like 20 hours on my PS4, I got EA access on Xbox and refuse to download it.

It sucks, they might've had a gem if they didn't try to milk people for cash.

Well the new movie is around the corner, and Disney is used to nothing but positive press for SW since it made a return in 2015.

All over the news it's been nothing but negative press for EA and SW, even CNN had an article about it on their front page last night.

The backlash probably did get Disney a tad upset.

@dimebag667: Awesome band. Used to listen to that one song on repeat before training, lol. Guess it sounds kind of cheesy now, but I still love it. :)

As the people of Reddit said, the microtransactions will be turned on after people start complaining about how slow the progression system is without the transactions the system was built around.

As I said in another thread, I wish they doubled down on this and really let the poison seep in, so that when it all really explodes, it's even more explodey. Now 80% of the players are going to pat EA on the back for "listening to them" while grumpy buggers like me sulk in the corner.

Ah well, back to dancing over EA's misfortune:

*Crack* Ow, my leg.

I dunno. Being part of the early access I was able to generate ~45k credits. Already bought Palpatine, Vader, and Luke. Glad that people can't spend money on progression cards now at least.

Don't buy it people, let it crash and burn. Only way they will learn.

EA gamers were still going to buy it it happens after every call of duty release yet it always manages to break records

Ding Ding Ding

This is simply a ploy to get the pending reviews from major sites to be a few points higher since they were getting knocked for all the microtrans shenanigans. Then, once their MC score stays above 75%, in a month or two it will all be back just as bad as it was.

Make no mistake, this is a con job pure and simple. They think we are f***ing morons.

Wow, but this is only a temporary thing.

It can go ether ways honestly, hell Disney just shut down Marvel Heroes/Marvel Heroes Omega (the Marvel Diablo clone). I am glad EA is starting to fix BF2 cause it is indeed a pretty awesome game if your a fan of SW, even though I'm not a fan of the story after chapter 3. Which brings me to another point...BF2 does have something to tie in The Last Jedi (I won't spoil anything) so I guess I can see Disney stepping in and bitch slapping EA.

I'm so torn on how to feel. On the one hand, I celebrate the demise of the micros and the embarrassment EA has experienced as a result.

But on the other hand, people now have more evidence to point to that complaining on the internet is an effective counter-strategy to effectuate change.

@sancho_panzer: It's not cheesy at all, it's amazing! Music sucks now, and Mike Patton is one of the best musicians ever!

Yep, exactly.

Hopefully nobody falls for it. We need to draw a line in the sand with this sh*t.

Wow!!! BE THE CHANGE! Love it!

@quadknight said:

https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/pre-launch-update?utm_campaign=swbf2_hd_na_ic_soco_twt_swbfii-prelaunchblog-tw&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cid=42029&ts=1510882077024

Thank you to everyone in our community for being the passionate fans that you are.

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.

We have created a game that is built on your input, and it will continue to evolve and grow. Star Wars Battlefront II is three times the size of the previous game, bringing to life a brand new Star Wars story, space battles, epic new multiplayer experiences across all three Star Wars eras, with more free content to come. We want you to enjoy it, so please keep your thoughts coming. And we will keep you updated on our progress.

? EA got REKT! So they are temporarily removing microtransactions at launch as they figure out a way to fix it to the point it becomes fair and doesn't affect gameplay. They weren't expecting this level of backlash and hopefully this will be a lesson to the other greedy douchebags like Ubisoft, Blizzard, etc. Go too far with microtransactions? Prepare to get totally rekt by angry gamers.

YES !!!

BEST NEWS EVER XD

I'm glad this happened, EA was shockingly transparent with how little they thought of their consumer base with their original plan for microtransactions. Like to me, even though they are changing it, the damage is done and permanent, and I'm not going to buy another EA game ever again. The fact that they thought their consumers are THAT stupid is just.. insulting beyond words.

BUT STUPID RICH GAMERS GONNA COMPLAIN AS THEY CAN'T BE BABYFEED WITH BEST ITEMS THROUGH MICROTRANSACTIONS THAN GRINDING. THEY WILL FORCE DEVS TO INCLUDE MICROTRANSACTIONS AGAIN IN FUTURE.THESE GAMERS ARE THE WORSE THAN EA. THEY WON'T LET BRING CHANGE :(

ALL OF US GAMERS NEED TO UNITE AGAINST THE STUPIDS AND GREEDY'S ASAP.

? Holy shit if this is true.....

https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/16/star-wars-battlefront-ii-microtransactions-go-offline-until-ea-can-make-changes/

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.EA has now confirmed that it is taking this feature down to address fan concerns just as the game is about to launch worldwide tomorrow. All of this comes after multiple days of outrage from fanswho are upset that EA and developer DICE have implemented an online multiplayer system that gives an advantage to people who pay money.

Hoping its not temporary :(

Yeah, that's some extreme crap there. Inexcusable.

In a multiplayer shooter, basically everything should be unlock-able by 50 hours max. Maybe 100 hours for dedicated players. I have no issue if there is 1 or 2 special unlocks that take even more time, for uber dedicated players. But it can't be a main character. Most likely Battlefront has way less "stuff" to unlock then something like Battlefield 4. There is no reason for it to take 4000+ hours, other than greed.

So, er, guys, I have some new information.

According to Venturebeat, this move came after EA CEO Andrew Wilson had a phone conversation with Disney CEO Bob Iger:

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. EA has now confirmed that it is taking this feature down to address fan concerns just as the game is about to launch worldwide tomorrow.

Erm, wow. Did- did Disney just stage an intervention? I mean, I always said that Disney weren't going to care unless the bad press starts affecting their core movies and toys businesses. The only explanation I have for this is that Disney saw these stories popping up on mainstream press like CNN and BBC, and how the Belgian government is investigating whether loot boxes qualify as gambling, and got spooked. This can therefore be seen as a pre-emptive move to prevent Disney's nightmare scenario I mentioned; of this debacle affecting their core businesses.

People were gonna boycott Star Wars The Last Jedi lol.Hence Disney intervened HeHe

@indzman: I hope so too.

I don't see them bringing microtransactions back in full force now. People will literally eat them alive.

It's already happening now, a lot of people are still gonna boycott this game despite their temporary fix.

I don't think it got anywhere near that stage yet. As I said, I believe this was a pre-emptive move; Disney don't really care about EA's shenanigans, since they have no direct stake in the games business and will be getting paid regardless. What Disney do deeply, desperately care about, however, is their movie business, and they would go to any length to make sure The Last Jedi launch goes as smooth as a newborn baby's buttcheek.

It appears they saw this blow-up as a potential tripwire in that plan, even if just a minor one, and moved quickly to extinguish it before it became one, regardless of whether it would have evolved into one or not.

A lot of the DLC for BF2 is The Last Jedi related which is why they probably acted cause Swtor has been doing pretty meh since 2015