10 Major Controversies That Killed Great Video Games

Following on from the threadbare disaster that was Star Wars Battlefront in 2015 was certainly no easy task for EA. However, in its sequel, Battlefront 2, they actually came pretty close to really turning their fortunes around.

Released two years after the original in 2017, Battlefront 2 was a game designed with the fans in mind. The prequel era planets and characters were playable, a story and various new modes were introduced and the visuals continued to look absolutely stunning for the time.

However, it also drew in plenty of controversies for its microtransactions and pay-to-win format. The likes of Darth Vader were unplayable without thousands of credits and hours invested, and it soon became clear that the game's rewards weren't going to the best performers in the server.

EA are of course well known for their love of microtransactions in all their games, so their obsession with hoovering up the in-play purchases through loot boxes shouldn't have entirely been a surprise to players. Nevertheless, their response to this criticism was really what killed off any hopes of Battlefront 2 making a success of the franchise.

Their response to one query around the obvious pay-to-win model became the most downvoted comment on Reddit for a time, forcing EA to change strategies and release a plethora of free content in order to try and salvage their reputation when their stock dropped a whopping 2.5% following the controversy. Whilst the game enjoyed a brief revival for a time, there's no denying its potential and image was ruined by being just another EA cash grab.