"Star Wars Battlefront II" has been of the most anticipated and most talked about games of the year. We got to see plenty of the game earlier this year at E3 2017 and it was announced then that, unlike the previous game, all the DLC for "Star Wars Battlefront II" would be released free of charge. It seemed like it was too good to be true, and for many gamers it was.

A worrying beta

A beta for the game was launched a few months ago and, whilst the gameplay was fun, players became very concerned about the number of boxes that were featured in the game and could be purchased for real money.

Loot boxes which contain cosmetic items which don't affect gameplay have become quite common in games, but the loot boxes in "Star Wars Battlefront II" contained boosts which would give a significant advantage to players who shelled out for them.

Change?

Following complaints from players, EA said the beta was simply a testing ground and that certain changes would be made in the final game to ensure all was fair. Even more controversy was unleashed when a player discovered it would take around 40 hours of game to unlock key heroes and villains such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. EA responded by reducing the cost of heroes but it was soon discovered that the number of credits received had also been reduced, thus the problem remained and gamers felt cheated.

Backlash

The backlash against the game was severe and many began canceling their pre-orders. EA did do two AMAs on Reddit but it did little reassure gamers. As DSOG reports, following the negative press, and with the game only a day away from launch, EA released a statement saying that microtransactions in the game have been suspended for the time being and rewards can only be unlocked through gameplay.

Whilst microtransactions are gone, for now, the statement from EA did say that they may be reintroduced at a later date. It seems gamers have got what they want for now but is it enough for the game to recover from the controversy that has hounded it for the past few weeks? Given that it is Star Wars related game, and that a new Star Wars film is coming out soon, the game will no doubt still sell well, but how many sales has it lost given the recent backlash?

A bad name?

The Star Wars brand is one of the most popular in the world and is owned by Disney. Some have speculated that EA has changed the game in order to prevent any further bad press from potentially hampering the brand and the upcoming film. "Star Wars Battlefront II" is released today for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC whilst the upcoming movie, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," is set to be released on December 15.
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