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EA has encountered plenty of backlash in the build-up to Star Wars Battlefront II's launch and even after turning microtransactions off, it seems that tensions are high. Aside from the game selling far fewer copies compared to 2015's Battlefront, some Star Wars fans are now petitioning to get EA's rights to the franchise revoked.
Currently there is a petition calling for Disney to revoke EA's rights to the Star Wars franchise going viral. The petition outlines a list of complaints, ranging from the publisher's handling of Battlefront (2015) the ‘pivot' on Visceral Games' Star Wars title and finally, the drama surrounding Battlefront II.
Currently, the petition has over 19,000 signatures, which pales in comparison to the number of upvotes it has received on Reddit. There are already rumors that Disney executives are unhappy with EA's handling of Star Wars Battlefront II, and with the game being brought up in political discussions, and petitions doing the rounds, it is unclear what will happen next.
Of course, we do need to keep in mind that Disney/LucasFilm's hands may be tied in all of this, EA would have spent a lot of money obtaining exclusive rights to the Star Wars franchise. Contracts like that aren't going to be simple. On top of that, we don't know how much involvement Disney/LucasFilm executives had when it came to talks of additional monetisation for Battlefront II, there is always the possibility that they approved it from the start.
KitGuru Says: EA has gone quiet since announcing the removal of microtransactions in Battlefront II and Disney/LucasFilm haven't publicly commented on the matter. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if some high-level talks were going on behind the scenes in the fallout from all of this.
With how the first Battlefront was unfinished with the remainder locked behind DLC, and how now EA are stuffing Loot Boxes into every game, they should have the license revoked as they clearly care more about ripping customers off than providing a quality game for a reasonable price.
There may be clauses that EA cannot do damage to the Star Wars license in their contract. But still, I don’t see Disney just revoking a license. Either EA will go to court or Disney will have to pay a lot of money. Not in the least because EA still has SW games in development.
Moreover, revoking the license would basically force EA to stop providing any support for it’s BF games other than basic technical support, because it can no longer add content. So a unilateral decision by Disney would hurt the people who actually bought the game. But correct me if I’m wrong on this aspect.
If EA were to lose the license, who would get it? The hacks over at Activision, the abusers at Konami, Capcom, who? I hate EA, but it would be like replacing Cancer with AIDS.
Petition for loot boxes, petition for gambling in games in general. Don’t make it personal like this, your turning a professional looking outrage from the public into a mob of enraged Star Wars nerds. It looks bad for the media, and gives them a reason to talk about something that isn’t the main issue.
CD Projekt red ? 😀
Exactly. It’s not like Battlefront II or EA are the only ones doing it. Personally I’m more upset about the performance issues in the game…
EA has been doing that for years.. no suprise there..
You’re right if disney pulls it’s licence ea legally woulf not be able to do any more additional content for any of the two games
Does nobody read any of the fine print before you even get on and into the game…
Obsidian so we can get a Kotor 3
My exact thoughts or even rpg in original trilogy era
So all.of us that just want to play. That have payed good money for the title with no intention of using (paying for) the loot boxes will suffer because if EA looses its right to this we are all left with no support or updates for th3 title. So all the haters who have invested nothing in this title loose nothing by their incessant bitching about what is acctually a pretty good game.
Ive been playing since day one and have so far unlocked all but 1 of the main heros and am now starting to unlock weapons and mods. Now all these are not pay to play in any way we will see future DLC cost even more. Where as suckers that would have paid for basic loot boxes would have financed futire DLC for all
Disney just need to create their own video game division, acquire Factor 5, and create everything in-house. Good times ahead!
valve! At least you wont expect a 3rd disappointment.
This is EA there will be no free updates or support anyway. You have helped EA by buying this game (even after the fraud of the 2015 game).
Make Lucas Arts the publisher (they still just about exist) and then hand the development to Factor 5 who made what I still regard as the best Star Wars game in Rogue Squadron 2 on the gamecube.
That would depend on how they pulled the licence. If they said that EA could continue with the current game but not get any new ones then they would still be able to make expensive and content light updates in order to squeeze more money from the unsuspecting gaming audience.
I would give anything to play a Star Wars game made by them.
Disney had their own video game division. It was called Lucas Arts… They bought it and turned it into a shell in order to merely manage the licencing agreements… I agree though that Factor 5 should be making Star Wars games.
You paid for the game as is, not for future DLC (do you really think EA would provide them for free anyway), so in this case who’s bitchin’?
How about Bethesda? Though their recent decisions have been poor (Paid mods, milking old games..)
Give it to Ubisoft!!
Just kidding. ??????
Here’s how I posted the Change.org petition to my 1,500+ friends on Facebook:
“The Force is FUCKED with the assholes @ EA.
Electronic Arts actually aimed GAMBLING (your) $$$ @ CHILDREN, until DISNEY threatened to pull their exclusive license–after world governments threatened to ban the newest game and deal a major blow to our beloved Star Wars universe–unless EA removed that shit, or otherwise “altered the deal.” In response, EA TEMPORARILY backed off.
Pray EA doesn’t alter the deal further, and take a sec to TELL Disney to alter THEIR deal with EA, permanently, before the Dark Side of child gambling becomes the norm not just in Star Wars games, but throughout the galaxy — and wait until you get THAT credit card bill…
May The Force and hard-earned cash be with you and your kids… always…”
Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Rogue Squadron, but those games are mere toys compared to the X-Wing series. TIE Fighter in particular doesn’t just regularly appear on ‘best star wars game’ lists, but ‘best game of all time’ lists in general
We will have to agree to disagree. I love the x wing games too but I still think Rogue Squadron 2 is the best Star wars game out there. However I think we can both agree that someone other than EA would do a better job with the series…
I’ll certainly grant you that RS2 has by far the greatest singleplayer version of the death star trench ever seen. In the end what clinches it for me is in space there’s no ‘right way up’- so any game that automatically ‘rights’ your ship is simply an arcade flight game with a space paint job. To be fair virtually everyone does this, from RS to Battlefront 2 (the real one) to Shadows of the Empire. But that just makes the rare ones that truly let you have full freedom of 3-axis combat shine all the brighter.
Now if they combined the gameplay and mission structure of X-Wing Alliance with the graphics of Rogue Squadron… hoo boy…
If Bethesda got it, it would be a buggy mess that would never be fixed (unless a fan were to fix it, because that’s the only way Bethesda games are fixed). Better to give it to a company who actually gives a shit about video games.
yip EA has lost 6 billion dollars so far on star wars due to their shitty and greedy practices..people not buying it and all the refunds
Kotor 3 > Any other conceivable SW game.