EA responds to massive Battlefront II pricing backlash

Star Wars Battlefront II is proving to be an absolute public relations nightmare for publisher EA and developer Dice. The game’s beta raised some big pay-to-win concerns among the community which was only partly addressed by EA and the game took criticism for shoehorning in microtransactions which are currently plaguing Triple A games.  But the most recent controversy comes from in game pricing for some of the game’s most popular characters.

Fans took to forums such as reddit, furious that they payed for a full priced game only to then need to grind to unlock hugely popular characters such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Characters who were freely available in the original Battlefront. EA also made reddit history when they responded to one such thread, with their response now being the most downvoted comment on the website (by quite a huge margin). The response can be seen below.

The most recent update in this saga once again comes from EA who have reevaluated their pricing structure thanks to community backlash. The full post from EA can be found here.

“There’s been a lot of discussion around the amount of in-game credits (and time) it takes to unlock some of our heroes, especially Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Unlocking a hero is a great accomplishment in the game, something we want players to have fun earning. “

“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. “

Reducing the price of heroes in Battlefront II is a step in the right direction but it isn’t exactly what people are asking for. Fans of Star Wars don’t want to jump into a brand new game they have already paid full price for and have to grind to unlock the heroes they love and want to play. Clearly this issue has struck a cord with players who simply want to be able to enjoy a full experience and not one that is locked behind pay gates.

Even after this announcement players are still upset that they have to unlock heroes at all and that the game still features pay-to-win systems. I have a feeling that this won’t be the end of the controversy and we will most certainly see players continue to vent their frustrations. Especially after EA announced that they will be hosting a reddit AMA (ask me anything) to allow the community to launch questions at the publisher. This sounds like it could be trouble.

“This Wednesday we’d like you to join us for a Reddit AMA with some of the key leads on our team. Stay tuned to our social channels for more info on the AMA, and our blog for continual updates on what we’re seeing, hearing and adjusting in the game.”