Recently there's been a lot of backlash against EA and their aggressive microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Not only are gamers outraged over the loot crates, but it seems that the developers aren't doing much to alleviate concerns.
For example, after the recent finding that it took dozens of hours to unlock a hero, the game makers lowered the unlock requirements but also lowered the amount of credits earned. Then, they removed the microtransactions but said they'll be back later. It seems as though there's no concrete plan to balance the game and at this moment gamers are as confused as ever.
The Wall Street Journal has been following the controversy for a while and said that Disney contacted EA to discuss the outrage over the game. Star Wars is owned by Disney and given the fact that it's a valuable property, they didn't want negative press before the release of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in December.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz is familiar with the game and wrote an article about it. On his Twitter page he said that Jimmy Pitaro, Disney's Head of Consumer Products and Interactive Media, contacted EA detailing Disney and CEO Bob Iger's take on the issue. Most of the stories in the press have been about how Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was like gambling based on the loot crate system. Disney didn't want their franchise to be associated with gambling or public outrage in this manner. There were even stories on news sources like CNN and the BBC about the pay-to-win situation.
It's unclear if Disney's intervention resulted in EA pulling the microtransactions, but last night they said that the removal was only temporary. They'll return in another form in the future. Hopefully EA can have a better plan this time around because the situation has been very poorly managed.
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