EA announces return of Star Wars Battlefront II loot crates in wake of disappointing sales

By Asher Madan
last updated

EA never learns because, despite missing sales targets, the publisher confirmed that microtransactions would return to Star Wars Battlefront II in the coming months.

Star Wars Battlefront II generated a lot of controversy for its loot crates and microtransactions. The outcry among gamers caused the publisher to pull the micropayments, but by that time the damage was done. According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, the game underperformed as EA only sold nine million units instead of the ten million they estimated. If you compare these figures to the first Star Wars Battlefront, the game passed fourteen million sales by March 2016.

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Despite the disappointing sales figures, EA confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that Star Wars Battlefront II would enable microtransactions again in the coming months. The company promised to revamp the progression system but we haven't heard anything about the details. It's unclear if it'll be a marked improvement over the previous one or just a minor adjustment. Right now it seems like EA is only waiting for the controversy to die down before reintroducing them.

Star Wars Battlefront II's loot crate system was so egregious that even some governments got involved. A few months ago, Belgium's Gaming Commission announced that it was investigating whether loot crates available in Overwatch and Star Wars Battlefront II constituted a form of gambling. Even lawmakers in the United States and Australia took notice. Recently, Hawaii State Representatives called out EA for its business practices by branding Star Wars Battlefront II as a glorified themed casino.

Hopefully, EA has learned from its mistakes, but only time will tell. Now, the only acceptable microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II would be cosmetic items which don't affect gameplay at all. If there's any other system then the publisher risks damaging the beloved franchise even further, just like Dead Space and Mass Effect.

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Asher Madan
Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.

30 Comments
  • Surprise, surprise! Didn't like the game anyway. Great graphics poor game
  • Maybe this time, instead of it being too random, you get what you pay for. But if I buy this game, I'm buying it only for the campaign and not multiplayer.
  • Rumour has it that Microsoft is looking to buy EA. It'll be interesting to see the results, hopefully MS will get rid of this business destroying nonsense (and bring back Mass Effect of course...).
  • We're not sold on that rumour tbh.
  • Maybe not, but we can dream.  Merging EA Access into Xbox Game Pass would be a huge boon to their lineup.  And Microsoft selling titles that were previously exclusive to Origin on PC through the Microsoft Store via Project Centennial would certainly boost it's reputation as a viable option for purchasing games.
  • Except for the neverstore people.
  • I don't see that being much of an issue going forward.  There are less of them with every major update to the Store.  And Origin is already a terrible service; I think most people would even be fine with Microsoft shutting down origin in favor of the Store; as long as Steam continues to be an option as an alternative.
  • Those neverstore ppl still cannot avoid the inevitable imo. It's just a mater of time. Eventually, older Windows will go & Win10 will stay.
    Are they the majority anyway? Internet / gaming forum is full of enthusiast, critics and fans with big mouth no?
    I love xxx, it's a master piece. Sure, but it's not selling. *exe's not the center of the IT in our future, esp after the transition.
    If you don't own legacy code and sales channel already (or use no 3rd party game engine if you are an indie) what's the point compiling exe?
    Do you own installer, crack-proof, uninstaller and updater? Do you own advertisement meanwhile throw away your chance with IOT, AR, MR, Xboxes, Win10S and ARM? How about new features and newer tech that'll only be introduced in the new API.
    As a user, are you willing to try out some no-name-exe? Dangerous not?
  • Do you guys plan on doing an article on it? It'd be an interesting read, especially if you are able to reach out and get ANY info. Not that anyone outside of MS would be able to get anything definitive from them right now.
  • EA would lose more being platform exclusive than selling to everyone.
  • MS just needs to buy the Star Wars license and I'm fine
  • Why? Don't you already get Star wars?
  • Microsoft buying EA and getting rigged of microtransactions? Ahem ahem! Forza 7 comes to mind. Dnt know what difference will MS make in that department.
  • F7's progression's fine btw.
    Gun powder's not the devil, depends on the application / how people use it for.
    Simple if-else.
  • Love how people try to drag Forza 7 through the mud just because it has loot crates. You can't even buy them with real money! Certainly that's something they may enable at some point, but just by the virtue of it not being possible now, you know that it was designed so that it is OPTIONAL. You can get plenty of them using the in game earned credits, and it works great. Don't lump Forza into this Battlefield mess.
  • Gears of War 4 has loot crates that cost up to $100. So, no, MICROSOFT is no different. People forget companies are out to make 💰. If they can get away with it, they’ll do it. 
  • lol Here comes the "Its optional" argument... :)
  • If they bring back anything like they had there will be another s storm for EA.
  • Maybe if the last battlefront was better more people would have bought the second one :/
  • 9M, 14M, it's formidable for games with this problems
    Start game with a total to spend and it's over, but the problem is game in free-to-win (because price of license Star Wars, but not only, it's a choice)
    They do a free-to-win game, but for me, it's not the good game for this, easy to sell
    Ea announces the return of Star Wars disappointing
  • Lol did you use Google translate to try and make this English
  • Jumbled mess. :-)
  • Yeah "only" 9 million.
  • I don't see why companies can't copy what MS does? Take Halo 5. It has Micros in the Warzone game mode. But they provide an entirely seprate Warzone mode where you can play entirely without them. Meaning the entire game of Halo 5 can be played without Micros. It pushes the Microtransaction players completely away from the rest of us. Forza 7 is entirely a progression system within the game. You cannot buy a single box with real money whatsoever. They are only earbed through gameplay entirely. Providing a much more robust progression curve as opposed to previous entries where you ended up having everything so quickly and 20 million sat in your account with nothing to spend it on.
  • The EA Empire Strikes Back.
  • Hahaha this studio really don't care about anything except money.
  • I agree with those that state loot crates should only be cosmetic. It’s not fair for people to have to pay to have a competitive advantage.
  • ********. Nothing more to say.
  • Got this for $31 on sale at Best buy before Christmas. It's fun. Hopefully they stick to cosmetic for the loot.
  • I don't believe EA would be foolish enough to put back in the pay-to-play structure. I am guessing it will be cosmetic changes. If they are reasonably priced and what I want, I will purchase them to support the game. I like the he game and hope for more modes and maps. The MTX I'd like to see would be different heads for the human head players. Right now it looks like a bunch of clones running around with all the same faces. Also would like to see insignia etc. on trooper armor. For star fighter fans, maybe paint jobs or decals on their star fighters.