When you hear the name Star Wars Battlefront II, what do you think of? Do you think of a highly-anticipated sequel that honestly could’ve hit the mark if it wasn’t weighted down with bad decisions? Do you think of a title where the publisher thought it would be good to have the players fighting for over a year to get every piece of equipment in the game? Or do you think of the controversies surrounding the microtransaction system that led to them being “turned off” the day before release?”
Either answer is fine, as it’s truthful, this is what happened to Battlefront II. EA and DICE tried to make a truly surpassing sequel, but it got weighted down by terrible decisions, and EA took a hit because of it. Not only did the game not live up to sales expectations (they didn’t even pass the previous Battlefront game), but EA lost $3 billion dollars of stock. And yet, Gerrick Johnson, the head of an investment back in Montreal, claims that investors “overreacted” to what happened with the game:
Consumer pushback to EA’s Star Wars in-game monetization strategy has undermined some investor confidence and has driven the stock lower. After further consideration, we believe the reaction may have been overdone, providing a buying opportunity for what is, otherwise, a solid long-term story.
You can read his full statement here, but long story short, he praises EA for what they did not just for Battlefront II, but also, other aspects of their company that are going strong right now including eSports and their desire to push digital gaming.
While we’re all entitled to our opinion, this one does seem odd. The backlash from fans wasn’t just real, it was visible, as we noted above via the sales numbers. Fans were outraged by what EA did with the progression system and microtransactions, and investors were clearly hearing this. That’s not an overreaction, that’s an adaptation to what’s going on in the world.
