Update 2: Today Jason Schreier of Kotaku published an article revealing that the Twitter user @BiggSean666 while using EA's name in their bio has no professional relationship with EA. After checking post history, comparing information with various LinkedIn listings for EA, and finally reaching out to Sean he has now removed all mention of EA in his Twitter Bio while remaining silent.
At the time of publishing TechRaptor employees also looked into the legitimacy of Sean but were unable to find concrete information to disprove his position in the company.
Update: Within a day after the original backlash, DICE executive producer John Wasilczyk made an announcement on their blog that the original offending prices will be cut by 75% in total of it's original pricing.
So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits. Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players.
It should be noted, according to Game Informer's review in progress, that the reward of credits for finishing the single-player campaign was also apparently slashed to fit with the new pricing scheme, going from 20,000 credits earned to only 5,000 credits. It is unknown if other price changes have been implemented into the game at this time.
Wasilczyk is also inviting fans to join DICE for a Reddit AMA with some of the key leads of the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 team, which will be taking place this Wednesday, asking players to follow their social media channels for updates on the AMA event.
Original Story: Star Wars Battlefront 2 has stirred up some more controversy on all sides, mostly stemming from the game's implementation of microtransactions.
It is no secret that fans have been extremely critical of their inclusion in Battlefront 2, so much so that Electronic Arts and DICE have changed the system algorithms already to reflect a more time-based system. Simply put, the more time you play, the more you will earn to unlock the game's features.
The Star Wars Battlefront 2 Subreddit, however, has exploded over the current implementation of the system. Two days ago, a Reddit user by the name of TheHotterPotato posted several findings he had playing Galactic Assault during the games early access period. As noted in the spreadsheet given, the average amount of credits would be around 275 per match, while the prices for items like a Trooper Crate, cost 4,000 credits. TheHotterPotato points out that it would take about three hours of gameplay to unlock a trooper crate, not factoring challenges into the algorithm.
Perhaps the most egregious pricing comes in the form of hero characters of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Both of which cost a whopping 60,000 credits to unlock, which leads to at least 40 hours of gameplay time to unlock one of the heroes if you save up every single credit.
This particular discovery attracted the ire of fans on the Reddit subforum, so much so that EA issued a response:
The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.As for cost, we selected initial values based upon data from the Open Beta and other adjustments made to milestone rewards before launch. Among other things, we're looking at average per-player credit earn rates on a daily basis, and we'll be making constant adjustments to ensure that players have challenges that are compelling, rewarding, and of course attainable via gameplay.
We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.
Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.
Many fans on the Reddit, however, took EA to task over their response both on Reddit and other forms of social media, to the point where the response is now the most downvoted comment in all of Reddit history.
Since the initial post on the Subreddit a few EA members have tried to clear up any potential issues with the spreadsheet. One member, going by Sean on Twitter, noted that the figures by TheHotterPotato are inaccurate to the game's final build. Other members of the team, such as Mat Everett, went on the offensive after the backlash commenting about "armchair developers on the internet." Everett has since deleted his tweet.
The outrage over Battlefront 2 has devolved, however, as several fans have begun to send death threats and individual attacks to the game's developers on Twitter, Reddit and other forms of social media. Sean, a developer at EA, on twitter pointed out how he has received seven death threats and over 1600 personal attacks since the outrage began, some of them stemming from his earlier comments regarding the accuracy of the numbers found.
With the situation being exacerbated by unjust insult slinging, it is unclear if EA or DICE will address the current implementation of the game's microtransactions any further, as per their PR response.
Currently, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is available on early access and is scheduled for a full release on November 17th for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
What are your thoughts on this entire situation? Leave your comments below.
