Star Wars Battlefront was a reboot made by EA and DICE attempting to bring the beloved franchise into the modern age of gaming. Though successful, some if content, or lack thereof, caused controversy. But, it still sold, and EA promised to do better with the sequel. So, when Battlefront II was announced, players were excited, especially since EA and DICE were apparently living up to their promises. But, as things got closer to launch, flaws again began to appear, but these were bigger than anything the previous game did.
The game had a massively difficult progression system, one that would cause players to play for basically a year non-stop in order to get everything in the game. What’s more, the microtransaction system was so steeped in the game that it was basically pay-to-win. This caused the fanbase to exploded, and EA has suffered the consequences for it. For as Ebaum’s World notes, we’re now in 2018, but EA’s stock has again fallen because of Battlefront II.
Now, the stock drop was slight, it went from $126 to $120, but any drop in stock is a massive hit for the company. Plus, it just goes to show that fans and investors haven’t forgotten what the controversies of 2017 were.
Initially, EA thought that Battlefront II would outsell the original by leaps and bounds. But, in its opening month, it didn’t even sell a million units (the previous entry did that in spades). And though it was one of the best-selling games in December of last year, it still isn’t meeting expectations. In fact, EA had to drop their overall projects for the quarter by three million units because of the backlash.
The question now for EA is, “What’s next?” Yes, they’re still bringing content to Battlefront II, that was never in question, but they need to seriously rethink their marketing and microtransaction strategies if they’re going to win back the trust of players.
