10 Promising Video Games That Totally Botched Their Launch
1. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
After appearing to be delivering what players wanted with Battlefront 2, EA messed up. Battlefront 2's entire progression system is based around random loot boxes that award players with not only cosmetic goods, but also game-changing abilities and upgrades. It was revealed that the boxes would be purchasable with real money, encouraging players to spend a little extra to perform better on the battlefield.
Iconic characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader were locked away behind enormous grinds that would either take hundreds of hours to complete, or a bit of extra cash from the player. EA suffered a PR meltdown - the game reviewed worse than its predecessor, and EA removed every microtransaction from the game at the eleventh hour before release, supposedly after a damning call from Disney.
The story was featured on mainstream news networks and has brought to light the practice of loot boxes in media aimed at children. Battlefront 2's entire system was designed to get players to spend extra money on a full price game, leading many to compare it to a mobile game.
It's early days, but Battlefront 2 has an uphill climb in front of it to regain the trust of players around the world.