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In the Gamers Bay community, I've been following the Star Wars Battlefront II Loot Box Controversy very closely. I posted what articles and news snippets I could find in the hopes of getting community members interested and involved in what was going on. A revolution was taking place in the Gaming Community. Gamers were Waking Up and discovering they had the Power, not the AAA Industry. They found their voice and they found ways of expressing their outrage at EA for their predatory and probably illegal business practices. It is an Awakening I've been anticipating for a long time.
EA's original business model for Battlefront II wasn't anything revolutionary, they simply adopted a similar business model used by mobile game makers. The problem is, they decided to use that business model on a game franchise long adored by gamers...the Battlefront franchise. The original LucasArts games developed by Pandemic (a casualty of EA's game studio genocidal tendencies), were loved by gamers. The original Battlefront II is held on a high pedestal right next to KOTOR and the first Rogue Squadron. EA picked the wrong franchise and the wrong fandom to screw around with, basically.
What was fundamentally wrong with the whole business practice of loot boxes as they were implemented in EA's Battlefront II require some explanation. First, let's get the whole argument of whether the loot boxes were gambling or not out of the way. In my opinion, they were gambling, sort of. It's a complicated subject, they were yet they weren't, it's a grey area so let's just leave it at that. What is true is that the business model used many of the same psychological tactics that mobile games use to encourage gamers to open their wallets. These game companies have made a business out of exploiting people with addictions. Addictions to Gambling, Addictions to Shopping, and Battlefront II was engineered in such a way that unless you paid into the system you had a massive grind to get ahead in the game. When the loot boxes were removed from the game, it became crystal clear how deeply dependent the progression system was on them. The game was very much Pay-to-Win.
Just recently EA and DICE announced sweeping changes to the Battlefront II progression system. No longer could you buy loot boxes, you earned them by playing the game. Pay-to-Win is out and a new progression system that lets you earn Star Cards through earning EXP to get Skill Points replaces it. Loot Boxes are still in the game but you can't buy them anymore and you get only cosmetic items from them. Also, there are still Microtransactions in the game but these are also limited to just cosmetics, despite BS statements by an EA exec recently that cosmetics would mess with Star Wars canon.
What can we take from this? First off, I'm proud of the Gamers who stood their ground against EA's business practices and they can hold their heads high knowing they were able to make an AAA studio back down. I also believe the rumors that Disney was looking for another partner to make Star Wars games probably also played a role, and since there is so much that happens and is said behind closed doors it is entirely possible that the rumors were true and EA decided to back off to placate Disney. The Loot Box Controversy went so far that governments started to get involved and they were talking in the mainstream news about wanting to keep games with those kinds of microtransactions out of the hands of children. Well, children are Disney's bread & butter and if the controversy went any further it is entirely possible that they would have terminated their deal with EA in order to protect their image. They would not want to be seen as supporting gambling in a game that children play, despite the fact that they've used loot boxes in their games for years, but that's an argument for another time.
The takeaway from all of this is EA backed down because I think they knew they were on the losing side. The ESA and ESRB made taken efforts to placate legislators and probably only succeeded in spurring on even more regulation. This was a fight they weren't going to win so EA and DICE decided it was best to give up and at least they get to tell their investors that Battlefront II still has microtransactions so their stock doesn't tank any further than it already has. Gamers won a major victory, but EA is still using similar practices in other games and then there's Activision and Destiny 2. Our work isn't over, we still have battles to fight so we can't call this a definitive victory. We will win this war but only if we're dedicated to winning it.
by Michael "TheZorch" Haney