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EA Misses Star Wars: Battlefront II Target, Plans To Reintroduce Microtransactions Soon
While Star Wars: Battlefront II, the embattled multiplayer first person shooter from DICE, sold a whopping nine million copies, it fell a million short of EA's conservative ten million estimate, and considerably below the three-month opening sales of the previous title. The game has also fallen short in terms of revenue, prompting EA to confirm that microtransactions will be returning to the game soon.
After hastily removing the ability to buy crystals, virtual currency for the lootbox-driven progression mechanic of the game, hours ahead of the game's launch, EA promised that they would bring them back once they figured out how to better make them fit into the multiplayer game. Today, EA explained that the microtransactions will be returning within the next few months.
Additionally, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was quick to clarify that the supposedly acrimonious row between the publisher and Disney was fictional and their relationship was no weaker for the controversy. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the press,” explained Wilson. “We have a tremendous relationship with Disney and we have built some amazing games together, and we have been very proactive with that relation in the service of our players.
“We’re at a point where, when we make the decision that we have the right model for players and our community, I have no doubt that we will get the support of Disney on that," he said when discussing reintroducing the microtransaction model back into Battlefront II.
EA has revised their forecast to expect Battlefront II's sales to hit its original 10-11 million goal by the end of the fiscal year, or the start of April. This number still puts it behind the first game in the same time frame, which sold fourteen million by that point.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. EA stated last week that they are revamping the progression model in the coming months, a plan that likely includes the reinstatement of the payment model in its structure.
Our Take
You can't accuse them of being misleading about it, as they promised from day one that they would bring the model back eventually. It will be interesting to see if this makes up any of their revenue losses or if people are just done by that point.
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