10 Most Desperate Ways Video Games Got You To Play
8. Promising To Make Up For Previous Failures
We're all sick and tired of corporate apologies from video game publishers who've basically attempted to swindle players and been categorically called out for it.
And no company has more egregiously attempted to wipe the slate clean with an insincere promise to "do better" next time than EA with their treatment of the rebooted Star Wars: Battlefront franchise.
2015's Battlefront was broadly praised for its graphics and gameplay, yet many were left colossally disappointed at the lack of release content, feeling that EA was basically milking the cash cow in a supremely half-assed way.
But when it came to marketing 2017's sequel, EA held their hands up and acknowledged that the original Battlefront was a relatively piecemeal experience on launch. They promised that Battlefront II would be considerably more content-rich, with a full narrative campaign and all DLC arriving free for players.
Everyone makes mistakes, for sure, but billion dollar corporations aren't people - they're money-motivated behemoths driven to see how much bad faith behaviour they can get away with in the pursuit of colossal profits.
And so it shouldn't have been surprising when EA's pre-release spiel about Battlefront II was, frankly, a load of s**t.
For starters, the "campaign" was a thoroughly naff, low-effort affair, and the multiplayer was derided for its slow progression system which appeared to incentivise microtransactions above all else.
EA did eventually work the game into better shape, but by this point the damage had been done. After all, as the saying goes - fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
The response to Battlefront II was volatile enough that an expected third game never arrived, allegedly in part due to the high licensing costs involved with making Star Wars games.