Months after removing controversial microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront 2, publisher EA today announced its plans to bring them back, this time tied only to cosmetics rather than gameplay.
In a blog post today, EA outlined the new progression system for Star Wars Battlefront 2, which will “begin rolling out” on March 21. The biggest change is straightforward: Players will no longer be able to spend real money on items that impact how the game is played. You won’t be able to buy loot crates or ability-boosting Star Cards any more – instead, you’ll earn experience points and skill points for your heroes, classes and ships.
“With this update, progression is now linear,” the blog post said. “Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase.”
This news comes five months after the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2, which triggered waves of outrage in the video game community thanks to its unbalanced, pay-to-win microtransaction system. Players who had early access to Battlefront 2 were beyond critical of this system, which gave big advantages to those who spent more money than others. The anger grew so deafening that EA and developer DICE took the unprecedented step of removing all microtransactions from the game a night before it launched. But as the companies said then, that was a temporary move.
Players who have already purchased Star Cards or progressed in the original system will keep everything they have unlocked, EA said. Starting in April, players will be able to purchase appearance changes and cosmetics for their characters using either in-game credits or crystals, the game’s premium currency.
“These changes are a major step as we continue to improve the core of the game and add new content,” the company said. “And there’s a lot more to come. In addition to continued balance patches, we will also add a number of modes to Star Wars Battlefront II in the coming months, offering several standout, brand-new ways to play.”
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32 responses to “EA Is Putting Microtransactions Back Into Star Wars Battlefront 2, But They Will Be Cosmetic-Only”
The 6 people that play the game will be happy :p
I can see the EA/DICE executive members all sitting around a table, trying to decide if they should order take away Chinese of Thai, spending all night to finally make the game better by giving Malabo Stacey a new hat.
6 months of fans screaming for offline maps and basic things that allow kids to play with their friends/parents in the same house VS big business of finding a model that skips around gambling while asking for micro-transactions at every screen because whales are funding mortgages.
I can sit and wait for the EA exclusive Lucasfilm license to run out, maybe then we’ll get some good star wars games again.
For now……
drip, drip, drip
I feel pretty bad for the devs who are chained to that clusterfuck. In an industry of creativity, their job is now basically to get spat on while they try to work on making drinkable the water from a poisoned well.
I don’t feel bad for Dice, Compared to the other developers, Dice are EA’s favorite sons, This is the first time Dice have had to buckle down under pressure, The bu that wipes all single player progress in Battlefield 4 still is in game, These devs were to busy talking sh*T about the Nintendo Wi’s lack of graphical power when their own netcode was fking over gamers world wide, Dice are EA, EA is Dice, They’re one & the same.
*Bug
“Dice are EA, EA is Dice”
The upper ups, i can see, are the same, but not the core developers. Without all these micro-traction b.s. and little experimentation allowed, given the chance, these core developers would like to bite on something more creative.
The boards at E.A like to keep it safe, and at the same time, so does the upper management at DICE. But I swear, I won’t be mad at DICE if they just downsize and work on their own new IP after all these years.
No individual that works for a company is evil, but a company is beholden only to its shareholders. I’m not going to purchase this or any game like it out of pity.
EA earned their hate with this game. The tale of SWBF2 is not a story of a poor demoralised Dev, upset because people slag off a game they worked hard on.
The narrative is closer to “a publisher included such terrible progression and reward systems in their game that their fanbase revolted and started a smear campain”.
Now just stop to think about how hard EA screwd up for that to have happened. This is bigger than any one person.
I may feel sorry for the people working at EA and dice. But I still think EA can fit in hell for its terrible practices.
I hope by now everyone has finished with this game and the playerbase shriveled up to nothing.
But most off all I hope they never see a cent of profit from their microtransactions.
This is better, but even cosmetic DLC isn’t ideal IMO. It’s probably fine for Battlefield but for other games where the way your character looks is pretty much the only way to stand out from everyone else (eg an MMO), cosmetic is just as bad as pay to win DLC.
As somebody who likes customisation in games, I just hope they don’t wall it all off.
Games like DCUO , Destiny 1 and Warframe knew to give players a range of options that can be earned before adding paid content.
And then you have Destiny 2 which has loot boxes for shaders. :\
Words cannot describe how happy I am that I didn’t buy that game.
All I’ve missed out on is more Bungie.
I mean, even Bungie misses out on Bungie these days.
What the hell happened to that company…
It’ll be cool if it’s only lore friendly skins, like battle-damage vader as seen from Forced Unleashed, or Jango Fett, or chancellor/senator palpatine before the facial scar.
I wouldn’t like it if it was like, crazy nacho hat + mostache Vader, and rastafarian Luke Skywalker.
This was their reason for not going cosmetic in the first place.
The game just doesn’t suit MTX. They should have stuck with paid DLC instead.
Thought about it and more.
I must say… I’m very glad that have gone the MTX route over loot boxes though.
I find it shocking that Overwatch gets a free pass just because it’s cosmetic.
Fortnite is a much better example of a decent system.
Game is totally free, but you can buy skins from the store when they pop up.
So no initial charge, and no spending $200 every event to get the one skin you’re after.
The progression is still stuffed from the lootboxes “poorly implemented then hasty removed” inclusion.
Blizzard were able to pull it off cause they had more fan love, never agitated their playerbase into open revolt and kept everything not affecting gameplay.
Also they made it sound like a good deal at the time
“Hey we won’t split the playerbase by selling different maps and heroes, those are now free! Just cosmetics only”
They screwd us over badly and the playerbase thanked them for every second.
I mean they’ve released wat 4 new heroes and 4 new maps in the last year and a half or something. While making time limited skins super expensive, with no direct purchase option and you can get duplicates of the rubbish that give you a fraction of the price they are “worth”!
Overwatch also gets some leeway for being the poster-child of gaming inclusivity and diversity. I’m still baffled how anyone can hold their gambling bullshit aloft as a textbook example of mtx done right.
The biggest sense of pride and accomplishment I have found was not playing this game.
Hmm needs more horse armor.
They need to eat their words, and add Pink Vader
They already have. In a multiplayer match on the death star you have Fin and Yoda running around with Boba Fett and Darth maul. They didn’t put any character limits on the heroes as they are trying desperately to turn this game into overwatch.
Battlefront was supposed to be battlefield with a star wars skin, currently it is about EA owning the monopoly on the SW license trying to screw every penny out of fandom.
In this day and age why can’t I just have a good fun Star Wars game?
too little too late, if it had of launched like this people wouldn’t have cared but they got greedy.
Should’ve just focused on delivering substantial content, maps, weapons, characters and story.
Building trust again was more important than waiting in the wings with more loot box fuckery.
Let it Burn, Let it Burn
Can’t hold it up anymore
Let it Burn, Let it Burn
Turn away and slam the door
I don’t care what they’re going to say
Let the salt rage on
EA never bothered me anyway
Premium currency is still pay to win bullshit, the person who pays for all the shit with premium currency wins rather than the person who has to grind a hundred hours to unlock the same shit eventually after weeks of dying to fucking squeakers who stole their parents credit cards
come on pink darth vader costume 🙂
I think if they did that and gave it away for free they’d probably actually get a bit of respect back.
Pat to win has never worked in the history of gaming but greedy devs will occasionally try it on again hoping to milk it a bit more… Glad the community rejected it so successfully.
Too late, game is dead to me.
Does anybody still play this dumpster fire?
By looks of population, game is dead to everyone.
There’s a lot or people with a chip on their shoulders in these comments.
The game had p2w included for a few days. It was removed almost directly after launch. Even then, people still complained about a made up 40hrs to unlock one character. After 40hrs, I had every character and ship unlocked and heaps of upgrades without spending a cent. Vader and Luke (the most expensive characters) aren’t even stronger than other characters you can unlock, just more iconic.
The game is fine and they’ve added quite a few characters, features and maps for free. I got my money’s worth and there still seem to be plenty of people playing.