You know what we haven’t talked about in awhile? Star Wars Battlefront II and microtransactions. I haven’t heard anything about it, have you? The topic is undoubtedly a hot one that has been a wide ride since the get go. With EA’s dramatic U-turn of removing all in-game purchases from the recently released title (temporarily), another EA franchise community has risen from the smoke with the mighty “… meh.”
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FIFA 18 has had its own controversy with how the big publisher implements the use of microtransactions within a title. The ‘pay for an advantage’ approach to these loot crates has a lot of ‘git gud’ gamers up in arms about the ability to pay your way to a higher level without having the skill to back it up. The FIFA community is no stranger to this, so it’s only natural that the discussion turns to what they themselves can do to have EA make a hard left on their in-game purchase policy for the sports title.
In a FIFA special via Reddit, one user put forth the important question: “Changes can happen, why can’t we do the same?” Immediately, the conversation got real. In George’s case, real sassy:
“The whole of the gaming community thought this was this awful thing for the Battlefront community. For us, this was just a normal Monday afternoon.”
Some Redditors joked that “at this point, it’s become a part time job” when it comes to going toe-to-toe with EA. Among the varied conversation however, one user made a valid point. There are reports that Disney was behind the dramatic shift in direction, but with FIFA – EA is the judge, jury, and executioner:
“I’m gonna put this under your comment so people see this. EA is the direct creator and producer of FIFA, however with Battlefront, DICE are the developer and might have a small say as to the nature of what goes into the game in the form of microtransactions. We can bitch all we want at EA, but seeing as there is no other company involved with it, nothing will be done.”
In FIFA, though you can’t purchase a player in the same way Battlefront tempts players to purchase a hero, players can use real life money to “pack” a player in order to increase their worth throughout the title’s entirety. Unlike the Battlefront controversy, at least FIFA seems more balanced. They don’t necessarily lean on players to make in-game purchases, whereas the Star Wars game blocked desired base characters behind a pay wall.
Regardless of the moral dilemma and the differences between these two franchises (and the differences are many), here are some of our favourite reactions to show both sides to this very expensive coin:
“I’m a fan of both subs, but no one fucks with Star Wars and gets away with it. Hope the FIFA revolution comes sometime soon.”
“wait wtf. THEY ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING. as a fifa player I was laughing at all the protest expecting EA to do nothing. damn what a turn of events.”
“They got hit hard with the avalanche effect. -600k+ downvotes ain’t no joke + with people talking about it on YouTube, Twitter, etc… they had to do something to just get the target off them.”
“The difference is plenty of FIFA players (myself included) don’t really give a shit about paying for upgrades. Outside of Reddit, I can’t name a single one of my friends who has ever complained about FIFA points. Some buy them, some don’t–but no one really cares.”
“I don’t know how old you are but everyone i know in my age range still struggle to accept that you have to pay for extra things in a game. I hate micro transactions but accept they will always be in FIFA. Just gotta stop myself from buying them now!”
“But there is no requirement to have the top tier players in this game mode. If you really wanted to play with Messi you can do so every single game of FIFA you play built into the price of the game..just not in FUT. surely if you bought FIFA only for FUT you understood that Fifa points were a part of that if you want to open loads of packs?”
“Meanwhile, avid FUT pack openers prepare theirs wallets for their annual black friday Fifa Points dump. It’s all about keeping the tradition eh.”
You can see the rest of the reactions, both hilarious and practical, right here.
