Let's talk about the Star Wars Battlefront II controversy
Star Wars. People love it, people hate it, and few haven't ever heard of it, especially in the last two weeks. For gamers and especially those gamers that happen to be Star Wars fans, the last few weeks have been rather turbulent as the much-hyped release of Electronic Arts' (EA) Star Wars Battlefront II was drawing ever closer, and now in almost typical EA fashion, is shrouded in controversy. For those who aren't following this controversy and would like to know exactly what happened, head to this article from Kotaku, as it does a better job of explaining than I can.
In the wake of all this, EA jumped to remove micro-transactions from their game, and the result has been a 60% drop in sales when compared to the previous 2015 release. In response to this, one Wall Street firm has come to the conclusion that gamers are overreacting and if anything game companies are under-pricing their games for consumers, and a link to that story can be found here.
Now, as a die-hard Star Wars fan and owner of a copy of Star Wars Battlefront II, I'm going to give my two cents on the whole debacle. For a franchise as precious and embedded in pop culture as Star Wars, EA must have paid a hefty price for the exclusive rights to produce video games. That money obviously has to be made back by the company, otherwise the acquiring of said rights is a failure. That being said, there are much better ways to make that money back if you ask me.
Take into account that a good number of people play video games (an estimated 150 million in the US alone), a large portion of Star Wars fans are gamers. With the promises made by Dice about changes to the second installment in the rebooted franchise, almost every single one of those fans was ready to buy this game. If you insist on loot crates, make them purely cosmetic and not pay-to-win. If someone wants to pay $5 to have a purple lightsaber or have Darth Vader with a bigger head, that's completely up to them how they spend their money. But when these loot crates contain genuine advantages and changes in gameplay, that's when it becomes a problem, and that's the main reason why fans are so upset.
I plead with you Dice, to put in the necessary work to fix this game and win fans back over. The graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, there's more than three times the amount of content than there was in the first game. Fans will buy your game and support it if you don't spit in their faces. If you must have micro-transactions make it so they're harmless and cosmetic. What fans don't want is someone who has just bought their way to the top and are vastly superior due to those purchases. Give us the game fans have been asking for and at this point deserve. Some are saying it's impossible for the game to redeem itself at this point, but I lean more with what Han Solo says, "Never tell me the odds".
In the wake of all this, EA jumped to remove micro-transactions from their game, and the result has been a 60% drop in sales when compared to the previous 2015 release. In response to this, one Wall Street firm has come to the conclusion that gamers are overreacting and if anything game companies are under-pricing their games for consumers, and a link to that story can be found here.
Now, as a die-hard Star Wars fan and owner of a copy of Star Wars Battlefront II, I'm going to give my two cents on the whole debacle. For a franchise as precious and embedded in pop culture as Star Wars, EA must have paid a hefty price for the exclusive rights to produce video games. That money obviously has to be made back by the company, otherwise the acquiring of said rights is a failure. That being said, there are much better ways to make that money back if you ask me.
Take into account that a good number of people play video games (an estimated 150 million in the US alone), a large portion of Star Wars fans are gamers. With the promises made by Dice about changes to the second installment in the rebooted franchise, almost every single one of those fans was ready to buy this game. If you insist on loot crates, make them purely cosmetic and not pay-to-win. If someone wants to pay $5 to have a purple lightsaber or have Darth Vader with a bigger head, that's completely up to them how they spend their money. But when these loot crates contain genuine advantages and changes in gameplay, that's when it becomes a problem, and that's the main reason why fans are so upset.
I plead with you Dice, to put in the necessary work to fix this game and win fans back over. The graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, there's more than three times the amount of content than there was in the first game. Fans will buy your game and support it if you don't spit in their faces. If you must have micro-transactions make it so they're harmless and cosmetic. What fans don't want is someone who has just bought their way to the top and are vastly superior due to those purchases. Give us the game fans have been asking for and at this point deserve. Some are saying it's impossible for the game to redeem itself at this point, but I lean more with what Han Solo says, "Never tell me the odds".
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