Few titles from last year created so much backlash as Star Wars Battlefront 2. The reason was, as you know, the enormous amount of predatory microtransactions that turned it into a pay to win experience.
Battlefront 2 was given bad response and criticism because loot boxes and microtransactions are generally considered gambling and most authorities around the world thus began to investigate whether these types of products should be labeled in special ways to warn buyers for what they deal with.
EA’s new Chief Design Officer Patrick Söderlund is aware of this whole situation and in a recent interview with The Verge, he revealed how he and his team look forward to regaining the trust of their customers in the upcoming games like Anthem and upcoming Battlefield 5.
“I’d be lying to you if I said that what’s happened with Battlefront and what’s happened with everything surrounding loot boxes and these things haven’t had an effect on EA as a company and an effect on us as management. We can shy away from it and pretend like it didn’t happen, or we can act responsibly and realize that we made some mistakes, and try to rectify those mistakes and learn from them.”
“We can shy away from it and pretend like it didn’t happen, or we can act responsibly and realize that we made some mistakes, and try to rectify those mistakes and learn from them.”
“We have taken significant steps as a company to review and understand the mechanics around monetization, loot boxes, and other things in our games before they go to market. For games that come next, for Battlefield or for Anthem, [players have] made it very clear that we can’t afford to make similar mistakes. And we won’t.”
EA and DICE did attempt to revive things recently by revamping the game’s progression system in a recent update and is also bringing back microtransactions but in the form of cosmetics only this time.
Söderlund has promised they will have a different approach with Anthem and Battlefield, so we are positive about the upcoming games.
