A report broke after Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s beta that its progression system was entirely loot crates based, essentially rendering the game functionally pay to win. While DICE and EA have attempted to explain that the full nuances of the system were not present in the beta, in an interview with GameSpot, EA admitted that it feels like those accusations and fears are “understandable”.
Chris Matthews, the art director at EA Motive said, “Right now there have been games that exploit players and there have been games that have done it in better ways. DICE has taken great care to make sure that Star Cards and the way they work give you more options in battle. Terms like pay-to-win and stuff like that are hard to dodge, but the guys are doing a really incredible job of trying to balance that system.
“[The response to this system] is not annoying because we love the fans. We’re gamers and we’re trying to make something that’s super-compelling that everybody’s going to enjoy, but, you know, it’s understandable.”
The interesting thing is that Matthews was asked by Gamespot if the game could conceivably exist without the loot crates system- could he see the game existing in such a form himself? His response was rather non-committal- make of that what you will, but I don’t necessarily think that is encouraging.
The sad part is that before the news of the game’s loot crates broke out, it was looking so appealing- free DLC, a meaty single player campaign, an expansion on the mechanics that made the original game popular, it looked like EA and DICE were doing everything right. The fact that this game, like so many others, has to get sabotaged by lootcrates, rendering it instantly unappealing for many, is frustrating.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 launches next month on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.