Last week has been fairly incredible, especially in a year where microtransactions and loot boxes in full-priced, AAA games have been going beyond cosmetic items. EA suspended the purchase of Crystals in Star Wars Battlefront 2 after overwhelming backlash from its players. However, as per various reports, it was Disney itself that requested this to happen.
This is according to a source that spoke to The Wall Street Journal, which stated that Disney wasn’t happy about the backlash the game had received due to its microtransactions. Apparently Disney CEO Robert Iger was fairly unsatisfied and it was Disney head of consumer products and interactive media Jimmy Pitaro who called EA CEO Andrew Wilson about the same (as per a source that spoke to VentureBeat).
However, in another interesting twist, anonymous sources familiar with the game’s production told VentureBeat that the gameplay was initially more hero-based. Much like Overwatch, it was about teamwork and character selection with cosmetic items being offered in loot boxes. The changes to gameplay and loot box rewards (which went from cosmetic-only to Star Cards and weapons) came from Lucasfilm, Disney’s Star Wars division, but of course neither EA nor Disney offered any comment on that.
What are your thoughts on the continuing dumpster fire that is Star Wars Battlefront 2? Let us know in the comments below.
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