Four months after turning off microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront II following the massive silly loot field mess, EA are about able to launch a revamp of the sport’s development system and microtransaction monetisation. The excellent news: nothing that truly impacts the motion will likely be purchasable with actual cash. The so-so information: sure it nonetheless has a awful rattling development system getting in the best way of the sport. The bizarre information: it appears the one factor EA will promote for cash is character skins, opposite to an exec’s mutterings about the risks of upsetting people with a pink Darth Vader.
You keep in mind the loot field mess? Unlocking objects and upgrades was tied to ‘Star Cards’ and crafting junk present in loot bins purchased with a virtuacash earned by taking part in or a microtransaction foreign money purchased with actual cash, as our Alec explained in detail. The recreation had a load of grind and gamers weren’t finest happy that EA have been providing to let folks pay to skip a few of that grind in a recreation which already prices £55. No extra.
“With this update, progression is now linear,” today’s announcement explains. “Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase. Instead, you’ll earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you’ll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card you’d like to equip.”
Star Cards aren’t in Crates any extra, and Crates can’t be purchased. The reworked Crates will likely be acquired as rewards for “logging in daily, completing Milestones, and through timed challenges,” EA say. And they’ll solely comprise Credits or beauty objects like emotes and victory poses.
Everything gamers have unlocked earlier than this replace will keep unlocked, however transferring forwards it’ll undergo that new system.
So what is going to EA promote? It appears like skins are the one factor. EA name ’em “appearances” for some humorous cause, they usually’ll embody totally different species to play as. EA give the instance of Rodians as Rebel characters. These will likely be offered for the Credits earned in-game whereas taking part in or for actual cash by the ‘Crystals’ microtransaction money.
I don’t object to EA promoting beauty jazz for video games if it helps fund ongoing growth. It’s a mannequin which has confirmed itself in a variety of video games – and positive beats the final Battlefront’s post-launch monetisation of playerbase-splitting paid expansions. It’s only a bit foolish contemplating the whole lot EA CFO Blake Jorgensen mentioned final 12 months about grind-skipping microtransactions being a greater match than skins. He famous that they have been contemplating beauty choices, however had been cautious of specializing in them.
“The one thing that we’re very focused on and [Disney are] extremely focused on is not violating the canon of Star Wars,” Jorgensen mentioned throughout an earnings convention name in November, responding to the loot field upset. “It’s an amazing brand that’s been built over many many years and so if you did a bunch of cosmetic things, you might start to violate the canon. Darth Vader in white probably doesn’t make sense versus in black. Not to mention, you probably don’t want Darth Vader in pink. No offense to pink but I don’t think that’s right in the canon.”
Turns out, Star Wars is crawling with totally different species and bits you may mash in as beauty choices. Who knew? Still, a minimum of they modified their minds fairly than sticking to promoting development.
Battlefront II’s Progression Update will launch on March 21.
