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EA continues to try and quell Battlefront II pay to win concerns

Since the alpha build of Star Wars Battlefront II, there have been concerns surrounding the game’s ‘Star Card’ system, which offer power-ups in multiplayer matches and can be obtained by paying extra money. This came to a head during the recent open beta, forcing DICE to respond. Now this week, EA is also speaking out, trying to quell ‘pay to win’ concerns.

In an interview with GameSpot published this week, EA Motive’s Chris Matthews stated that fears surrounding Battlefront II’s micro transactions are “understandable”, before adding that there are plenty of games that “exploit players”, while others have managed to balance micro transactions better.

“Right now there have been games that exploit players and there have been games that have done it in better ways. DICE has taken great care to make sure that Star Cards and the way they work give you more options in battle. Terms like pay-to-win and stuff like that are hard to dodge, but the guys are doing a really incredible job of trying to balance that system.”

One of Battlefront II’s campaign writers, Mitch Dyer, then added that “the beta existed for things like this”. Now that DICE has received feedback from players, the game will improve in the long run. DICE has already posted its own response to the loot crate system, stating that it intends to have the most powerful items be earnable via playing the game, rather than random boxes.

Unfortunately, for the time being we are just going to need to take DICE and EA’s word for it. Until the final game comes out, it is difficult to say how Star Cards and loot boxes will impact the final game.

KitGuru Says: If EA had just stuck to cosmetic loot boxes, then much of this drama could have been avoided. Adding multiplayer power-ups to a game as a microtransaction was never going to go down particularly well, even if they can be obtained without spending extra money. On the plus side, at least the game’s campaign looks very promising story-wise.

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8 comments

  1. “the way they work give you more options in battle.”

    Like spraying 40% more lasers or absorbing 60% more damage? The only “option” there is the option to dominate the leaderboard.

  2. Just avoid this pay to win trash.
    If u must, wait till its bargin bin. It will be 20 euro soon enough as I and a few people I know are not buying it.

  3. Vague PR BS. Be specific if you want to be believed.

  4. Just shut up.

  5. Wait till new BF come out it will be even worse.

  6. Chris Matthews stated….’Terms like pay-to-win and stuff like that are hard to dodge’ so admittance and unrepentant. Basically its pay to win but not as bad as the beta made it look?

  7. Cheaters are only bad for business when they’re not paying you for it.

  8. Anything that gives you an advantage over others (however minute) by paying real money is pay to win. Why don’t they see that? Sure, they are in the business of making money. But I remember when they were in the business of making games. Now all these bigger companies are just trying to line their pockets as fast as they can.

    I’m thankful for developers like CD Projekt Red that don’t completely screw over their players. Battlefront was one of my favorite series of Star Wars games but the new ones so far have been lackluster, albeit a little fun. However, with Battlefront 2 selling in-game power for real money is the straw that broke the camels back. I’m ashamed of DICE. And I’m ashamed of Disney for allowing them to pervert their IP like this.