Video game publisher EA have announced they are cutting the in-game cost to unlock characters in the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront 2. The move comes after EA faced a continued backlash against some of its monetisation decisions in Star Wars Battlefront 2,
the sequel to the popular first person Star Wars shooter. The cost of
being able to access 'heroes' such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader has
been reduced by 75%, effective immediately, after it emerged that
players would need to spend dozens of hours to earn enough in-game
credits or spend real-world money to unlock the characters quicker.
"Since the start of the project, listening to fans has been important in making sure Star Wars Battlefront II is the very best experience for all of you," said John Wasilcyzk, Executive Producer at developer DICE in a blog post. "We continue to make adjustments based on your feedback as the game launches worldwide this week. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future.
"Since the start of the project, listening to fans has been important in making sure Star Wars Battlefront II is the very best experience for all of you," said John Wasilcyzk, Executive Producer at developer DICE in a blog post. "We continue to make adjustments based on your feedback as the game launches worldwide this week. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future.
"Making games great comes from
regular tuning. As one example, today we’re making a substantial change
based on what we’ve seen during the Play First trial. There’s been a lot
of discussion around the amount of in-game credits (and time) it takes
to unlock some of our heroes, especially Luke Skywalker and Darth
Vader. Unlocking a hero is a great accomplishment in the game, something
we want players to have fun earning. We used data from the beta to help
set those levels, but it’s clear that more changes were needed."
"Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning
these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all
players. It's a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly. It will be
live today, with an update that is getting loaded into the game."
Star Wars Battlefront II is officially released later this week, but has been available to subscribers of EA's Access programme and fans posted online about how they disagree with the business model of the game, taking to the largest Star Wars Battlefront community on reddit to voice their thoughts. It follows a scheme that fans believe rewards players who pay real money on top of the game's base price for loot boxes, with much of the game locked behind either real-money payments or a large time investment.
Star Wars Battlefront II is officially released later this week, but has been available to subscribers of EA's Access programme and fans posted online about how they disagree with the business model of the game, taking to the largest Star Wars Battlefront community on reddit to voice their thoughts. It follows a scheme that fans believe rewards players who pay real money on top of the game's base price for loot boxes, with much of the game locked behind either real-money payments or a large time investment.
This has come together to result in an official EA community account - EACommunityTeam - that now has the most downvoted comment in reddit's history.
With the comment currently at a score of -294,000 points, the Star Wars
Battlefront community is now filled with posts negatively responding to
the game in a variety of areas. Some of the posts are people - from
fans to those claiming to be a part of the games industry - going into
what they dislike about the game, while others are making fun of EA and
the situation as a whole. Many people are looking to refund the game,
following both these criticisms and EA's official responses to them.
The
greatest criticism, one which elicited the response from
EACommunityTeam, involved how players must 'unlock' famous characters
such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker to play as them in the
multiplayer modes. You can either pay extra to unlock the 'heroes'
faster, or unlock them via in-game credits earned via a vast time
commitment.
The cost
of Vader, for instance, originally ran players 60,000 in-game credits.
Under the alterations, he will now cost 15,000 credits. Though when
players are earning just a few hundred in each match, it will still
demand a considerable time input. The heroes are stronger than the
regular soldiers, and must also be earned for a limited time each game.
The full response to MBMMaverick saying this practice is "disgusting" is
as follows.
"As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we're looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
"We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
"Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can."
In a separate comment, EACommunityTeam indicated that the team are looking that progression and reward system, to ensure a "meaningful sense of reward for the time they spend with Battlefront 2."
"As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we're looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
"We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
"Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can."
In a separate comment, EACommunityTeam indicated that the team are looking that progression and reward system, to ensure a "meaningful sense of reward for the time they spend with Battlefront 2."
"Our goal involves creating a compelling progression path for all of our players. There's a lot of content at launch with even more coming via live service, and we'll continuously adjust our progression mechanics to give players a sense of accomplishment as they explore all of Battlefront 2.
"I posted this in another thread, but feel it would be good to post here as well.
"Heroes earned through Credits: The intent is to provide players with
a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. We
selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other
adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things,
we're looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis,
and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have
challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via
gameplay.
"Credits Earned: We're looking at the results daily and will be continuing to tune this to ensure that players feel a meaningful sense of reward for the time they spend with Battlefront 2.
"We appreciate the conversation here, and our team is working to make the best choices possible for the game and the players. We will provide more details and updates as we can"
This follows on from controversy earlier this year surrounding the game's loot box system which rewards players with random in-game items at regular intervals. The primary issues players had were around the fact that content would be locked behind random chance and that players could speed up this process with real-money purchases, effectively creating a dynamic where those that paid money on top of the original cost of the game would have better weapons in the game than anyone else.
"Credits Earned: We're looking at the results daily and will be continuing to tune this to ensure that players feel a meaningful sense of reward for the time they spend with Battlefront 2.
"We appreciate the conversation here, and our team is working to make the best choices possible for the game and the players. We will provide more details and updates as we can"
This follows on from controversy earlier this year surrounding the game's loot box system which rewards players with random in-game items at regular intervals. The primary issues players had were around the fact that content would be locked behind random chance and that players could speed up this process with real-money purchases, effectively creating a dynamic where those that paid money on top of the original cost of the game would have better weapons in the game than anyone else.
That system was then changed after an open beta test earlier this year,
hoping to alleviate these issues, but it appears that not enough has
been done. One person who claims to be a game developer at EA, going by
Biggsean66 on Twitter, tweeted that he has received 7 death threats and over 1600 personal attacks following this, stating it's "because of an unpopular feature in a game."
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