Star Wars Battlefront 2 Alters the Deal and Removes Microtransactions (For Now)
Pray they don't alter it any further.
The road to Star Wars Battlefront II's launch hasn't been a pleasant one, to say the least. Perhaps some people reading this article might have noticed Wednesday's circus Reddit AMA that turned into a volcanic fury not seen since the end of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith." In an effort to hopefully quell consumer anger, once and for all, Electronic Arts has announced that all in-game purchases for Star Wars Battlefront II have been disabled for the time being.
Today, we turned off in-game purchases for #StarWarsBattlefrontII. The game is built on your input, and it will continue to evolve and grow. Read the full update: https://t.co/asGASaYXVp pic.twitter.com/vQSOmsWRgk
— EAStarWars (@EAStarWars) November 17, 2017
With in-game purchases turned off, all progression must be earned purely through gameplay. However, EA does note that the spectre of microtransactions will return at a later date. What the publisher does and whether it will make an even bigger mess remains to be seen. For now, however, the Dark Side has been contained. The full statement can be read on the Star Wars Battlefront II website, but here's the gist, from DICE GM Oskar Gabrielson:
"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."
Pay-to-win microtransactions have left a dark cloud over the latest Star Wars game's release, becoming something that the Shacknews review could not ignore in good conscience. They might still come back, but they're gone for now. However, it remains to be seen whether the damage has been done and whether the public backlash and fan outrage over this entire mess of a situation is too much for EA and DICE to overcome.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, Star Wars Battlefront 2 Alters the Deal and Removes Microtransactions (For Now)
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whoaaaa damn
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Even though I have no intention of playing this game (haven't touched EA product since simcity 5), I think this is a pretty commendable move and a step in the right direction for P2W bullshit in general. Hopefully every other developer takes notice.
If they bring the microtransactions back they should just be cosmetic. Darth Vader without his helmet or something, etc.
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The AMA yesterday hinted as such.
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It's good that they removed microtransactions, but the entire idea of rewarding better players by giving them extra shit that imbalances the game in their favor is stupid.
If we're handing out stuff that measurably affects the game, shouldn't we be doing the opposite? Shouldn't players with the least experience have access to all of the crazy powerful gizmos,while players with the most experience only have access to the basic items?
I just don't understand this whole concept. For an FPS to be fun, it has to feel like you have a chance. I don't have a chance if I spawn into a game as a newbie and Darth Vader sticks his lightsaber through my eye socket. That isn't fun, that sucks.
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Battlefield Heroes "Paying to win" video presentation from 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_2sGk7Uwe8
The writing has been on the wall for a long time. The only surprising thing is that it's taken EA this long to introduce it into one of their for-pay PvP games.
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Whoa, so that gives a pretty clear insight into their mindset going into microtransactions. I'm surprised this video isn't all over reddit.
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It isn't a secret. Anyone paying attention has known about that video for 8 years. It is fair to think reddit isn't paying attention.
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That reminds me - I actually got into the beta of Battlefield Heroes and never played it. Like, I never played the game after it launched either. I always meant to try it out just to see how it was but I never got around to it. And I’m not sure it ever really got talked about on here either.
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Progression is about making it feel good to succeed in the game. It's a fairness problem if the base kit sucks and you don't get the good stuff until you play for hours. However even then, it's only really an issue if you are getting matched against much more experienced players while you're new, which is going to suck anyway. Sometimes they mess it up, but what's important is that these decisions are made to make the game as fun as possible, not with a profit motivation.
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I don't agree, if you want level playing field then play an arena FPS. For these types of FPS games with progression and unlocks some of the "skill" is playing long hours.
However as a player with out the unlocks you shouldn't feel like you're neutered to the point of being useless it is more about encouraging you to stick with the progression system.
The very important thing with these types of Battlefront/field games though is that you should still be able to unlock your favourite class as a casual fairly easily while the people that have more time will unlock ALL the classes. Eventually at some point you will still all have the same unlocks.
I never even minded with this if they did have some element of pay to progress quicker as long as they stuck to the above "rules".-
This.
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But not right away, so you give them invisible bonuses when they're new to the game and new to a match, make new players' first few kills easier every match but let it fade each game and as they put more time in.
Also make sure to emphasize the impact of the unlocking bonuses and their in-match use.
Ensure that players without notable unlocks are matched into games with at least one player who has them and make sure to do some sort of announcement for its use, during any kills, and during the post-game stats.-
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Guess you didn't play Battlefront 2015 then. That was in there. Or any Battlefield since...Vietnam.
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Or BF2 in 2005
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Never buy a DICE game at launch. It gets fucked up somehow.
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Battlefield 1 had no problems at launch
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Yeah, but it just had 100 smaller problems of which DICE fixes maybe 1 or 2 a month. I think most of the guys at DICE that should have stayed on BF1 post-launch ended up getting pulled over to Battlefront 2. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, but the post-launch support is nowhere near what we saw in BF4.
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Worst part about BF1 problems was that most were already finally taken care of in BF4. So frustrating. "Oh you want to be able to leave between rounds like was finally added in BF4? Nah, just because it was specifically requested in that game is no reason to include in the next game like everyone expects and wants."
It's like DICE has to reinvent the wheel for each BF game release.
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When microtransactions come back, they will still be used for P2W, they're just adjusting the balancing:
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/ea-star-wars-battlefront-2-changes-will-balance-those-who-want-gameplay-progression-and-those-who-want-an-accelerated-experience -
I bet Disney intervened and told ea to not fuck it up or something. I wonder what the contractual details are on an IP deal like this.
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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, players are finding out that they can no longer make in-game purchases with real money.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/16/star-wars-battlefront-ii-microtransactions-go-offline-until-ea-can-make-changes/
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This is great news, i think they deserve support for this, now where can I get the best deal on this?
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Needs to be in this thread too:
https://gfycat.com/SpanishAntiqueHuia
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Games are expensive to make. Studios are under immense pressure to monetize their games and turn a profit. EA's traditional profit margin is probably complicated by the fact that this is a licensed product, too.
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Each time the topic comes up people say this but there are numerous games out there not using this tactic that are perfectly profitable.
Movies cost a lot, even more to make sometimes but I don't have to pay extra from my seat to see the after-credits scene.
There's plenty of ways to adjust your scale, scope, length and price to accommodate. Plenty of other industries do it all the time. Why is gaming so different?-
Which North American/north-western European AAA studio can you point me to that isn't considering microtransactions as a way to prop up the bottom line?
I can tell you, the number of studios who are able to make it work are far and few between.
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It's EA. They've been doing more and more to milk games for quite some time. Remember the nutty they pulled with Dungeon Keeper Mobile? If you go back to that game, what they tried to do with SWBF2 is very much in line with that.
Had EA learned anything? Not really. Since, in my opinion, they basically tried the same tactic here as they did with Dungeon Keeper, they haven't learned anything. They just hoped to draw upon the lure of SW. I think this time the blowback just happened faster because the game was more popular than DK was. -
Director of Consumer Fucking
Chief Digital Exploiter
Lead Gambling Architect
Evil Process Analyst
Strategic Wallet Thief
Quity Un-assurance Analyst
Senior Shitty Idea Guy
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Or just Bob from Marketing
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Does all this hate make it OK to buy from a gray market? There has to be a balance somewhere.
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I don’t think shack can take that level of ethical dilemma lol
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The way I see it, if the business practices involved in the game bother you enough to actively want to stiff the companies involved, why engage with the game at all? Either support the work or don't.
Especially when you could use the money to encourage other games that don't engage in semi-predatory not-yet-classified-as-gambling behaviors. -
Like most Origin/Uplay titles, it doesn't appear to be much if any cheaper on the gray market. GMG has the best price I've seen, actually. Unless you're talking actual stolen keys or something.
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The gray market still encourages credit and identity theft. No matter how you feel about a company, it is never good to encourage stealing money from innocent people.
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No. Two wrongs don't make a right. That's like the first moral lesson you're supposed to learn as a kid after you graduate from not touching hot things or shitting your pants. If you don't want to play the game they made at the price they're asking then you don't buy it.
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Eh, I just played it through EA Access. $5 for 10 hours, when that's all I'm likely to play of it anyway is a pretty good deal.
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So it's 10 hours game time? Not "it will be active for 10 hours from the moment you launch it"?
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Right. I don't know how strict or precise the timing of the 10 hours is, but I've been playing matches on and off for a few days, and my time played says 2 hours, and when I launch it, it says "You have less than 8 hours remaining".
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Interesting. 10 hours would be more than enough time for me hah. I looked at my hours logged in Battlefront 1 and it was 11.
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It goes to 11
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I can't find it in list of available games for EA Access, is it restricted to certain regions?
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I'm not sure. I played it on both EA Access and Original Access in the US.
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Doesn't mean anything until we see how they implement them once they come back. There will most likely still be loot boxes, and still be pay to win.
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I pre-ordered it. My 10 year old son and I have been playing it this week. It is a super fun game. I'm sure people will hate on me, but we haven't felt like the game was that imbalanced. My 10 year old, who isn't that great, got enough battle points to play as 2 heros in one match last night. He was on cloud nine.
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Just because one industry is full of cash grabbing scumbags doesn't make it right for other industries.
There's microtransactions, and then there's pay2win. There's a difference. We've all somewhat accepted microtransactions as they were up until EA turned BF2 into a glorified mobile F2P game with a premium price tag on the front of it.
This kind of blind acceptance on your parts is why this shit is working.-
https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/plants-vs-zombies/plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-2/currency/pvz-garden-warfare-2-1-500-000-coin-pack
https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/fifa/fifa-18/currency/1-050-fifa-18-points-pack
https://www.rockstarwarehouse.com/store/tk2rstar/en_US/pd/ThemeID.38225800/productID.317353200
Among others... -
Blind acceptance? Sheesh. Its a video game. I'm trying to have fun with my son.
And the value proposition of an entertainment dollar is up to the person spending it. Note: we did not purchase this week, or plan to purchase any in game content.
We did buy the season pass to the last battlefront and had fun with it! ACK!
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I paid around $100-110 for the last three Battlefields with season passes.
BF3-4 I had 600 hours in each. Under $ .18 per hour for entertainment.
With BF1 I am at 176 hours. Low for a BF for me. But, that is still only $.57 per hour.
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