The Battlefront 2 release is mere days away (November 17, 2017) but that has not stopped fans of both the previous game and Star Wars in general from voicing their displeasure over the mechanics in the game. The issue comes from a player revealing on Reddit that the in-game character Darth Vader would cost a total of 60,000 credits (the in-game currency earned by playing), it being calculated through the number of credits you earn from games and how long games take. It would take a total playtime of 40 hours plus by not using the credits over those 40 hours you are unable to progress in any other aspect of the game, which also cost in-game currency.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 Backlash

The way in which Battlefront 2 has been made is to encourage players to spend more money on the game, as it is difficult for people without the free time needed to put in that much time into the game. Meaning, parts of the game and the fun of playing as your favourite characters are inaccessible to you unless you either wait a long time to earn it or spend money. Not only is it purely cosmetic, however, as the 'pay to win' system is across every aspect of the game. Heroes costing a large number of credits while it is difficult to earn a good amount from games, better weapons and 'star cards' (in-game upgrades) are also hidden behind 'loot boxes'. Further encouraging players to spend more money to either get the things they want without putting hundreds of hours into the game and to be competitive as any player spending more money will be stronger in the game than somebody who has spent none.

The outrage is heightened as EA (electronic arts) is a publishing company with a low reputation in the gaming community, with the opinion of them being they are greedy, forcing micro-transactions and payment walls into their games.

EA's response and the boycott

Following a post on the Battlefront SubReddit about these features, EA's community team responded to the post attempting to explain why they went in this direction.

This earned them the most downvoted comment in Reddit history, a sure sign the community and the internet are not happy. In their comment, they suggest they wanted features of the game to be locked off to give players a goal to aim for and a sense of accomplishment once they had been achieved. A fair statement, and while it is agreeable that goals and things to aim for in-game should exist, the problem is that for a full price game the ability to play as your favourite Star Wars characters should be a given (especially if this was the case for the previous game) and weapons, in-game upgrades and items that are stronger being locked behind loot boxes or hundreds of hours of gameplay is neither fair nor fun.

As it creates an in-game balance issue, all the players who spent money being at the top and winning most, if not all, of their games and firefights, and people who have spent nothing at the bottom not having fun at all.

A step too far

EA certainly is not the instigator of this system as it is a system that you see in numerous other titles, everything from the recent Call of Duty to NBA 2k18 (also an EA game) but it seems when they have tried to implement it with Star Wars it was a step too far. Fans on Reddit have gone out in their hundreds to cancel pre-orders of the game (Over 70,000 in one day cancelled) and decided on not buying the title and actively seeking a change in the systems in the game by boycotting it.

Making matters worse following this EA removed the online cancelling pre-orders method in an attempt to discourage players from cancelling, forcing them to call customer support in order to do so.

So far the game has received a few negative reviews, while some players have decided it doesn't bother them that much and are still playing the game. While EA has planned an 'AskMeAnything' on Reddit this Wednesday (15/11/17) presumably to clear up any issues people have with the game and their company. It remains to be seen whether this boycott will change the game systems in not just Battlefront 2 but the gaming community in general.