EA has temporarily removed microtransactions from its new game Star Wars Battlefront 2 after lots of backlash in the gaming community. They even set the record for the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.
Initially, someone calculated you would have to spend $2100 to unlock everything. With that news and the fact that you pay $60 for the game, the backlash seems justified.
And this is not the first time EA has done crappy stuff to their customers. Remember Sim City? They had always online DRM even though the game was an offline game. Then on release, they could not even keep the servers running so paying customers could not play. I could go on and on about EA and others but that’s not the point I am trying to make.
The real question is why do they keep doing stuff like this?
EA is a business not a person
Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. EA and others are publicly traded companies. They have stockholders who may not even play video games. So, all they care about is the bottom line and the stock price going up. That by itself is not a bad thing. People must get paid and I have nothing against that. And I am sure there are Individuals at EA that care a lot about the games and customers, but the company as a whole does not care and that is proven from history.
EA wants to gouge its customers for every bit a profit they can. Even if that means sacrificing the products quality. I say this because it is hard for me to believe that any company that cares about its product and customers can sit back and say “hrmm if I was a customer I would gladly pay $2100 in microtransactions on this game”. And as long as people keep buying their products they will keep pushing to see how much more money they can get. This has been the pattern so far.
How to fight back
The only language the faceless mass of EA will understand is a lack of dollars. This is why it annoys me when I see all these people complain online about EA or other companies over and over. But then they turn around and buy their products anyway. Complaining and voicing your concern is fine for the first offense but at some point, you have to put your money where your mouth is or stop talking. Then with some luck maybe EA will get the message and will change for the better.
I have not played a new EA game since 2011. I may have got something from a humble bundle but nothing that stands out in my mind. It kind of sucks sometimes because I will see a game that looks cool and I have to forget about it when I find out it is an EA game. But I will gladly pay full price for a CD Projekt RED game or other companies games that support DRM free, no day one DLC, and no microtransactions. I want to support the companies that treat me well and you should too!
