Over the past few days and especially post its reveal on Origin Access, Star Wars Battlefront 2 has come under heavy criticism for its implementations of microtransactions in the form of loot boxes. Today, the constant withering fire has finally forced the company to buckle and remove the ability to purchase the premium currency of ‘Crystals’ from the game, for now.
Today, we turned off in-game purchases for #StarWarsBattlefrontII. The game is built on your input, and it will continue to evolve and grow. Read the full update: https://t.co/asGASaYXVp pic.twitter.com/vQSOmsWRgk
— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) November 17, 2017
Oskar Gabrielson, General Manager at DICE took to the official blog to explain the move. Starting with an apology, the gist of the post explains the importance of player feedback in the development of the game and that is why the temporary suspension of said microtransactions.
He further states that the studio will be taking in more feedback to adjust, balance and tweak the system before reinstating the system with aforementioned changes.
Although, a win for now, this just might be the calm before the storm and the gaming community should maintain vigilance against such predatory monetization schemes from becoming the norm in the future.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC platforms from today.