In the wake of mounting criticism, Electronic Arts (EA) has decided to temporarily disable all microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront II. The unprecedented move surprised just about everyone, including those who have been venting against the pay-to-win progression for the past month.
Star Wars Battlefront II releasing yesterday without any in-game purchases means that the publisher misses out on the opening weekend, a prime time for generating revenue. While microtransactions will eventually return to the game, there is no indication as to in what form and when.
The community continues to advise everyone to not purchase the game, at least until it is clear how the upcoming changes will impact the progression system. In the mean time, EA is not at all worried about fans cancelling their pre-orders or the potential money the now-removed microtransactions could have made.
Earlier today, the company submitted a security report to its investors to confirm that the removal of microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront II will not hurt future earnings.
“Electronic Arts announced that it will turn off all in-game purchases for the Star Wars Battlefront II title until further notice,” the notice reads. “This change is not expected to have a material impact on EA’s fiscal year 2018 financial guidance.”
The company previously expected to sell around 14 million copies of the highly anticipated sequel before March 2018. This is the same amount that the first Battlefront sold back in 2015 in the same time frame.
The natural assumption was that sales would be much higher since the second installment features a single-player campaign and several improvements over the original. However, the recent media lashing may ultimately have an impact on sales, even if it is minor.
Star Wars Battlefront II is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
