Star Wars Battlefront II and publisher EA has been under a lot of fire recently regarding the game’s loot boxes and progression system. Now, VentureBeat has revealed more about EA’s decisions about these loot boxes, and the details are surprising. Originally Battlefront II’s loot boxes were supposed to be cosmetic in nature, similar to Overwatch.
That wasn’t the only thing Battlefront II was taking inspiration from Blizzard’s shooter. There was also meant to be a cooperative mode that was similar in nature to Overwatch, that focused on team composition. This was the mode where players would unlock the cosmetic skins to use via loot boxes.
Why didn’t this make it in? It was actually Disney’s Star Wars division, Lucasfilm, that shot that idea down, leading the developers to go down a different path with its loot boxes. Perhaps that wasn’t the best idea? VentureBeat reports that neither EA nor Lucasfilm have commented on this story.
All of this comes hot on the heels of EA announcing that they will be temporarily removing microtransactions from Battlefront II. Here’s more on this recent development:
But as we approach the worldwide launch, it’s clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right.
We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases. We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this.
What is your opinion involving Battlefront II’s loot boxes?
[Source: VentureBeat]
