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This has not been a great week for the folks over at DICE. Star Wars Battlefront II has been dragged through the mud online due to its controversial monetisation and progression system. As a result, some folks from EA and DICE organized a Battlefront II AMA on Reddit last night, but unfortunately, few questions were actually answered.
Hundreds of questions were posted to the AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit last night, around 30 of them were responded to. Many answers seem to boil down to ‘just keep playing, and we'll make changes as you go'.
When asked about the time required to unlock new content, executive producer John Wasilczyk said that while EA has “seen the speculation”, it's internal numbers indicate that unlocks should be happening much faster than what's being reported. Those internal statistics weren't shared,
Aside from that, the developers expressed that they are “committed to making progression a fun experience” for all players and that “nothing should feel unattainable”. As for the current daily credit cap on ‘Arcade Mode', DICE seems to be preparing to ensure that “players can continue to progress without daily limits”.
In one of the more honest responses throughout the AMA, one member of the DICE team touched on the concerns surrounding Battlefront II's loot box system:
“As for concerns surrounding loot boxes, I think crates can be a fun addition as long as you don't feel forced to engage with them in order to progress. I feel that's where the issue is with our game right now and that's where we'll look to solve as quickly as we can.”
No specific steps have been laid out to address community concerns, but if you were hoping for Star Cards to be removed from the game, it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Instead, EA and DICE seem determined to “continue adjusting values” to make progression and unlocks feel like less of a grind.
KitGuru Says: If Star Cards could just be replaced by cosmetics, then most of Battlefront II's issues would be solved. Gameplay affecting microtransactions were always going to be a tough sell, regardless of whether or not they can be unlocked without spending real world cash. At this point though, it seems like it might be a tad too late for any major changes, particularly given that the game's launch needs to tie in with The Last Jedi's theatrical release.
The problem is you’ll find the business model of star cards has come from way up top within EA, and the entire profitability model of the game will be based around it. Remove them, and someone’s revenue estimations will come crashing down. This is where they need to be punished with poor sales, so that they come to terms with the understanding that the business model is only punishing for the player, and not profitable for EA.
The problem is that the number of people who know and care about this issue are far, far outnumbered by the number of people who just want to play a Star Wars game.
The reddit reaction was cute, but those numbers are insignificant losses compared to the profit brought in by microtransaction schemes like this.
Those numbers are also insignificant next to the power of the force.
Apparently the pre-order cancellations were upwards of 70,000. That and universal negative press are enough to get a publisher’s attention, but unlikely to make long-lasting changes to the thinking of the higher management.
They are definitely responding to PR, rather than the money issue. Their initial action proved this, where they pretended to cut the grind by 75%, then had everybody find out they also cut the rewards by 75%.
The fact remains that they ready made a ton of money from the microtransaction, and they are too integral to the game to change in a major way. So many reviewers have posted “we spent $X to see how bad it was!” Articles now.
I would also not be surprised if their recent reactions were caused by the various gambling authorities investigating them. Devs go to great lengths to keep ratings in the T/PEGI13 zone. Getting an A rating due to gambling would be death for the game.
Reviewers beware, a doctored review copy which has the limit of 10000 in game credits to acquire premium characters is not the same as final retail. Ordinary players need 60000 credits to do an unlock. So pausing selling crates means nothing, they can afford to wait till it blows down, the the micro transactions are back in. EA have stated it just a temporary pause.