The microtransactions and loot boxes controversy surrounding Star Wars Battlefront 2 is the definition of ‘that escalated quickly’, moving rapidly from internet fan outrage to Disney getting involved, to governments around the world getting involved, to EA backtracking on microtransactions entirely, to, apparently, the whole ordeal causing EA’s stock to crash on the stock market, losing them $3 billion in valuation as a result.
Month to date, EA’s stock is down 8.5% currently; it is clear that the market has reacted negatively to how Battlefront 2 has turned out for EA. There could be two reasons for this- either investors are unhappy about EA turning off microtransactions (very likely), or they are afraid that the microtransactions blowback will end up affecting EA’s other games, most of which have loot boxes and microtransactions in some form or the other, too (slightly less likely, investors don’t usually think that far ahead).
Whatever it is, on some level, it cannot be denied that the industry has seen, at last, that there can be very real repercussions to trying to push your luck too far with abusive monetization- hopefully this acts as a cautionary tale for others.
[CNBC]
