2017 was a rough year for EA, with the Star Wars: Battlefront II micro-transaction fiasco taking new heights, ultimately stirring a worldwide controversy leading to thousands boycotting the game for the exploitative system that was in place. The impact of the following event was so overgrown that the entire world began to condemn any form of micro-transaction in any game what so ever, only to give rise to what could be called ‘one of the biggest turning points in the history video game industries.’
But even so, it appears that the recent denunciations had had very little effect on EA and only cemented their visions for the future. As could be inferred from a report by Game Informer, the information which is apparently drawn from a conference, EA executives Patrick Soderlund, Andrew Wilson, and Black Jorgensen quoted that they felt rather confident with the success of the recent Battlefield I. The three executives also admitted that the recent botch of Battlefront II has indeed left a long lasting grotesque impression on their fan base and that they are in dire need of a hit game. The new Battlefield game is what will help accomplish this.
When asked about the impact of PUBG, Wilson said, “What PUBG has done is change the level of innovation that changes the way people play first-person shooting games…. We’ve also seen it in Fortnite, so people are clearly interested in it. That doesn’t mean just putting battle royale in Battlefield, though. Our Battlefield teams are looking at how they innovate, including core gameplay and map design.”
However, the EA team’s stance on micro-transactions remains unaltered. One would think that after such a catastrophe, the developers would take a step back and actually concede to the demands of the consumers, but EA seems to be against change. “We do not believe that lootboxes are a form of gambling, and a lot of countries agree with us… It’s not just us, the entire industry and the ESA agree, and are helping to explain to people what those are. People are enjoying games all the time that some are misconstruing as lootboxes or gambling.” The executives cited upon being questioned.
