EA Sports Micro Transactions

EA Ditches 'Battlefront II' Microtransactions - Rolling Stone
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/13/ea-...popular-the-developer-is-getting-threats.html

Has anyone been following this story? What are your thoughts?

The gist: EA sports is one of the larger game corporations. They are coming out with a high production value Star Wars game. The game includes tons of various things to buy within the game. This has become the norm in games but the things you can buy are usually aesthetic. This game sells items that can improve a player...termed "pay to win". Pay to win is never good for a multi-player big budget game.

Beyond the "pay to win" aspect...the game is very predatory in how it is selling these items. For one, it is VERY time consuming to unlock things without paying additional money. Some have put the timer at 40 hours of game play to unlock Luke Skywalker. In addition, you can't straight out buy Luke Skywalker, you buy a loot crate which gives you a random item which can lead to some people sinking a lot of money and never getting something they want.

You usually see behaviors like this in those free I-Phone games but this moving to AAA blockbuster video games is a first.

The result....consumers have rebelled and EA has temporarily stopped micro-transactions (game comes out this weekend). There have even been meetings between Iger (CEO of Disney) and the CEO of EA.

Any game featuring loot boxes that can be purchased either directly or indirectly with real money should be given an Adults Only rating and have the same regulations as any other form of gambling. All they do is exploit people with addictive tendencies while simultaneously ruining the game.

They also have the gall to charge $60 for the privilege of purchasing micro-transactions. Imagine if casinos charged a large entrance fee.

So EA will wait until enough of the hardcore, 30-hours-a-week gamers have bought the game then start selling power-ups and characters. Then it won't matter if they all rage quit the game because EA already has their mom's money, LoL.

EA has been doing this for years. Anyone play mass effect? Impossible to get the very best endings and all of the story without buying the in game purchases.

EA.

The Evil Empire.

Oh boy, they've really done it this time.

And it comes down to a single word: Greed.

That's it, that's all this entire story is about, unbridled greed and a lack of anything close to an ethical bone in their entire corporate structure.

Now let's get this straight, lootboxes suck but they're not going anywhere because people are bad consumers... And that's just how it is, I have never and will never purchase a loot box, I refuse to, but there are many who do and I might say we're bad consumers but look, if that's how you want spend your money, power to you.

But the outrage against EA goes way beyond the hero characters being behind a massive, insurmountable paywall or grind to start.

But EAs system, of character progression being tied to the lootboxes is absolutely, positively ****ing bonkers and why did they have to do this? It was purely because they thought they could sell even more lootboxes if they could strangle players into believing it would give them an actual gameplay advantage and that players would be willing to do so because the Star Wars brand was so powerful that their customers, like idiots would line up and take the ass ****ing.

But the fact is, they didn't have to, they absolutely did not have to do this, it was not in anyone's interest for them to do this including their own.

This game was the perfect, perfect opportunity for purely cosmetic lootboxes which would have made them a ****zillion dollars, an absolute ****ton.

You could have easily had the Darth Maul Stormtrooper Uniform Skin, the Anakin Podracer skin for the X Wing, as an example... And people would have paid for it.

But no, EA's greed and shortsightedness destroyed any chance of that now and maybe, maybe this time they might learn their lesson but only if we do.

The only way we are going to beat EA into submission is to not buy this game and send a message to the biggest games company in the world and all others, that these type of micro-transactions, specifically the pay to win model and that is what this is, at this level, already being a full priced game, will not be tolerated by the gaming community.

Gamers are the most powerful, passionate and vocal consumers in any market anywhere but this time, we have to, simply have to vote with our dollars here.

I recently got a Nintendo Switch and have been playing Mario Odyssey... And one just has to say Wow.

How is it that after almost 40 years since Mario made his first appearance, can the same character, technically doing the same thing with the same adversary not only still be fresh, but make arguably one of the greatest gaming masterpieces ever sold and that's what publishers like EA just do. not. understand.

Instead of creating an enduring franchise to provide them with income over the long term, they're willing to stoop to incredible lows and shady tactics to annihilate their fan base and make a quick buck in the short term, only this time, they went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far.